Statistics – Computation
Scientific paper
Nov 2000
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2000phdt........11h&link_type=abstract
Thesis (PhD). HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Source DAI-B 61/05, p. 2576, Nov 2000, 138 pages.
Statistics
Computation
2
Scientific paper
Currently available techniques for studying surfaces of stars other than the Sun are applicable only to particular types of stars, and only rarely achieve sufficient quality to yield new constraints on the atmosphere of the star. Observations of gravitational microlensing transit events provide a new opportunity to study the limb darkening of the source star, detect spots on its surface, and measure the center-to-limb variation of its spectral features. We explore the method here by means of simulations using a single point-mass lens and realistic models of the source atmosphere. We present a method for rapid and accurate computation of simulated light curves. Using red giant model atmospheres, we demonstrate the sensitivity of microlensing to the brightness profile of the source star, and study the microlensing effects on low and high resolution spectra. We find that smaller surface features, such as spots, can de detected as well. We present a technique for measuring the brightness profile of the source directly from the light curve of the event. In events with small impact parameters, this method can achieve a +/-2% accuracy in recovering the limb darkening profile from the center of the stellar disk nearly to its limb, substantially better than other currently available methods. The method can be readily applied even to the more frequent binary microlensing caustic-crossing events.
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