Variation of spot-induced anomalies in caustic-crossing binary microlensing event light curves

Abstract

We investigate the pattern of anomalies in the light curves of caustic-crossing binary microlensing events induced by spot(s) on the lensed source star. To this end, we perform simulations of events with various models of spots. From these simulations we find that the spot-induced anomalies take various forms depending on the physical state of spots, which is characterized by the surface brightness contrast, the size, the number, the umbra/penumbra structure, the shape and the orientation with respect to the sweeping caustic. We also examine the feasibility of distinguishing the two possibly degenerate types of anomalies caused by a spot and a transiting planet and find that in many cases the degeneracy can be separated from the characteristic multiple deviation feature in the spot-induced anomaly pattern caused by the multiplicity of spots.