Letter to the Editor

Gravitational microlensing as a test of stellar model atmospheres

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK
² 203 Van Allen Hall, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA
³ CNRS UMR 5572, Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, 14 avenue E. Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France

Corresponding author: martin@astro.gla.ac.uk

Received: 12 December 2001
Accepted: 2 April 2002

Abstract

We present calculations illustrating the potential of gravitational microlensing to discriminate between classical models of stellar surface brightness profiles and the recently computed “Next Generation” models of Hauschildt et al. These spherically-symmetric models include a much improved treatment of molecular lines in the outer atmospheres of cool giants – stars which are very typical sources in Galactic bulge microlensing events. We show that the microlensing signatures of intensively monitored point and fold caustic crossing events are readily able to distinguish between NextGen and the classical models, provided a photometric accuracy of 0.01 mag is reached. This accuracy is now routinely achieved by alert networks, and hence current observations can discriminate between such model atmospheres, providing a unique insight on stellar photospheres.