Institute for Advanced Study Astrophysics Seminar

ABSTRACT: Microlensing planet searches are rapidly advancing in several dimensions. Originally it was believed that microlensing lightcurves would yield only a few dimensionless parameters, like the planet-star mass ratio. Now, several planetary events have host masses and distances. Incredibly, at least one microlensing planet seems likely to yield a complete 8-parameter Kepler solution. We are beginning to probe the Galactic distribution of planets, with a strong suggestion that planets are more common in the disk than the bulge. The field as a whole is beginning to transition from survey+followup to pure-survey mode, with huge implications for the planet detection rate, the type of information extracted from individual events, and the level of statistical analysis that can be applied to the ensemble of detections. Microlensing planet searches from space, which received the highest-priority recommendation of the Decadal, will further transform the field.