MOA-2010-BLG-311: A planetary candidate below the threshold of reliable detection
Creators: name: Yee, J. C.
name: Hung, L. -W.
name: Bond, I. A.
name: Allen, W.
name: Monard, L. A. G.
name: Albrow, M. D.
name: Fouque, P.
name: Dominik, M.
name: Tsapras, Y.
name: Udalski, A.
name: Gould, A.
name: Zellem, R.
name: Bos, M.
name: Christie, G. W.
name: DePoy, D. L.
name: Dong, Subo
name: Drummond, J.
name: Gaudi, B. S.
name: Gorbikov, E.
name: Han, C.
name: Kaspi, S.
name: Klein, N.
name: Lee, C. -U.
name: Maoz, D.
name: McCormick, J.
name: Moorhouse, D.
name: Natusch, T.
name: Nola, M.
name: Park, B. -G.
name: Pogge, R. W.
name: Polishook, D.
name: Shporer, A.
name: Shvartzvald, Y.
name: Skowron, J.
name: Thornley, G.
name: Abe, F.
name: Bennett, D. P.
name: Botzler, C. S.
name: Chote, P.
name: Freeman, M.
name: Fukui, A.
name: Furusawa, K.
name: Harris, P.
name: Itow, Y.
name: Ling, C. H.
name: Masuda, K.
name: Matsubara, Y.
name: Miyake, N.
name: Ohnishi, K.
name: Rattenbury, N. J.
name: Saito, To.
name: Sullivan, D. J.
name: Sumi, T.
name: Suzuki, D.
name: Sweatman, W. L.
name: Tristram, P. J.
name: Wada, K.
name: Yock, P. C. M.
name: Szymanski, M. K.
name: Soszynski, I.
name: Kubiak, M.
name: Poleski, R.
name: Ulaczyk, K.
name: Pietrzynski, G.
name: Wyrzykowski, L.
name: Bachelet, E.
name: Batista, V.
name: Beatty, T. G.
name: Beaulieu, J. -P.
name: Bennett, C. S.
name: Bowens-Rubin, R.
name: Brillant, S.
name: Caldwell, J. A. R.
name: Cassan, A.
name: Cole, A. A.
name: Corrales, E.
name: Coutures, C.
name: Dieters, S.
name: Prester, D. Dominis
name: Donatowicz, J.
name: Greenhill, J.
name: Henderson, C. B.
name: Kubas, D.
name: Marquette, J. -B.
name: Martin, R.
name: Menzies, J. W.
name: Shappee, B.
name: Williams, A.
name: Wouters, D.
name: van Saders, J.
name: Zub, M.
name: Street, R. A.
name: Horne, K.
name: Bramich, D. M.
name: Steele, I. A.
name: Alsubai, K. A.
name: Bozza, V.
name: Browne, P.
name: Burgdorf, M. J.
name: Novati, S. Calchi
name: Dodds, P.
name: Finet, F.
name: Gerner, T.
name: Hardis, S.
name: Harpsoe, K.
name: Hessman, F. V.
name: Hinse, T. C.
name: Hundertmark, M.
name: Jorgensen, U. G.
name: Kains, N.
name: Kerins, E.
name: Liebig, C.
name: Mancini, L.
name: Mathiasen, M.
name: Penny, M. T.
name: Proft, S.
name: Rahvar, S.
name: Ricci, D.
name: Sahu, K. C.
name: Scarpetta, G.
name: Schafer, S.
name: Schonebeck, F.
name: Snodgrass, C.
name: Southworth, J.
name: Surdej, J.
name: Wambsgans, J.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We analyze MOA-2010-BLG-311, a high magnification (A_max&gt;600) microlensing event with complete data coverage over the peak, making it very sensitive to planetary signals. We fit this event with both a point lens and a 2-body lens model and find that the 2-body lens model is a better fit but with only Delta chi^2~80. The preferred mass ratio between the lens star and its companion is $q=10^(-3.7+/-0.1), placing the candidate companion in the planetary regime. Despite the formal significance of the planet, we show that because of systematics in the data the evidence for a planetary companion to the lens is too tenuous to claim a secure detection. When combined with analyses of other high-magnification events, this event helps empirically define the threshold for reliable planet detection in high-magnification events, which remains an open question.
description: 29 pages, 6 Figures, 3 Tables. For a brief video presentation on this paper, please see http://www.youtube.com/user/OSUAstronomy 10/25/2012 - Updated author list. Replaced 10/10/13 to reflect the version published in ApJ