# Detecting Stellar Spots by Gravitational Microlensing

## 1 Introduction

Apart from having a venerable history (Schwarzschild 1975), the question of small-scale surface structure in normal stars is very important for stellar modeling. Direct interferometric evidence is scarce and inconclusive (Di Benedetto & Bonneau 1990; Hummel et al. 1994). Indirect evidence, such as Doppler imaging and photometry, is limited to specific types of stars (RS CVn, BY Dra, etc.). Photometric evidence for stellar spots comes from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) survey of bulge giants (Udalski et al. 1995). Modeling of the spots on the stars selected from the OGLE database was reported by Guinan et al. (1997). Direct evidence for a bright spot is available for one red supergiant, $`\alpha `$ Ori (Uitenbroek, Dupree, & Gilliland 1998), although in this case the bright region may be associated with the long-period pulsation of the star. The evidence for spots is particularly scarce for normal red giants. Such information will be invaluable, given the current difficulty in calculating detailed red giant atmosphere models directly or extrapolating their physics from available models of red dwarfs.

The presence of spots can also be revealed by observations of Galactic microlensing events. During such an event the flux from a background star is amplified by gravitational lensing due to a massive object, such as a dim star, passing in the foreground. Over 350 such events have been observed already, primarily toward source stars in the Galactic bulge and the Magellanic Clouds. For a review of Galactic microlensing see Paczyński (1996). In events with a small impact parameter, when the lens passes within a few stellar radii of the line of sight toward the source, the lens resolves the surface of the background star, as the amplification depends on its surface brightness distribution. Various aspects of this effect have been studied by Simmons, Newsam, & Willis (1995), Gould & Welch (1996), Bogdanov & Cherepashchuk (1996), Heyrovský & Loeb (1997) and Valls-Gabaud (1998), to name a few. Spectral changes due to microlensing of a spotless source star were described in detail recently by Heyrovský, Sasselov, & Loeb (1999; hereafter HSL). In this complementary work we study the case when the circular symmetry of the surface brightness distribution of the source is perturbed by the presence of a spot. We illustrate the effect using a model of a source similar to the one lensed in the MACHO Alert 95-30 event (hereafter M95-30; see Alcock et al. 1997). During this microlensing event the lens directly transited a red giant in the Galactic bulge. As red giants in the bulge are generally the most likely sources to be resolved, Galactic microlensing appears to be ideally suited for filling a gap in our understanding of their atmospheres as well as of spots in general.

In the following section we study the broadband photometric effect of a spot on the light curve of a microlensing event. The spectroscopic signature on temperature-sensitive lines is illustrated in §3. In §4 we discuss the limitations of the simple spot model used here, as well as the possibility of confusing the effect of a spot with a planetary microlensing event. Our main results are summarized in §5.

## 2 Effect of a Spot on Microlensing Light Curves

We describe the lensing geometry in terms of angular displacements in the plane of the sky. The angular radius of the source star serves as a distance unit in this two-dimensional description.

During a point-mass microlensing event the flux from a spotless star with a limb-darkening profile $`B(r)`$ is amplified by a factor

$$A_{}(\stackrel{}{r}_L)=\frac{B(r)A_0(|\stackrel{}{r}\stackrel{}{r}_L|)𝑑\mathrm{\Sigma }}{B(r)𝑑\mathrm{\Sigma }}.$$
(1)   
Here $`\stackrel{}{r}_L`$ is the displacement of the lens from the source center, $`\stackrel{}{r}`$ is the position vector of a point on the projected surface of the star $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$, and the point-source amplification is

$$A_0(\sigma )=\frac{\sigma ^2+2ϵ^2}{\sigma \sqrt{\sigma ^2+4ϵ^2}}.$$
(2)   
The Einstein radius of the lens <sup>1</sup><sup>1</sup>1 Also given in source radius units. is denoted by $`ϵ`$; the separation between a point-source and the lens is $`\sigma `$.

At large separations $`\stackrel{}{r}_L`$, formula (1) is well approximated by the point-source limit (2) with $`\sigma =r_L`$. However, when the lens approaches the source closer than three source radii, finite-source effects become observable (higher than 1%–2%), as shown in HSL. The light curve of such an event then contains information on the surface structure of the source, introduced through its dependence on the surface brightness $`B(\stackrel{}{r})`$. HSL dealt with spectral effects due to the wavelength dependence of $`B(r)`$ in the case of a spotless source. Here we study the case of a source in which the circular symmetry is perturbed by a spot.

In such a case it is useful to separate the surface brightness distribution into the circularly symmetric component $`B(r)`$ (describing the source in the absence of the spot) and a brightness decrement $`B_D(\stackrel{}{r})`$. This decrement is zero beyond the area of the spot $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}`$. The amplification of the spotted star can now be written

$$A(\stackrel{}{r}_L)=\frac{B(r)A_0(|\stackrel{}{r}\stackrel{}{r}_L|)𝑑\mathrm{\Sigma }B_D(\stackrel{}{r}^{})A_0(|\stackrel{}{r}^{}\stackrel{}{r}_L|)𝑑\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}}{(BB_D)(\stackrel{}{r})𝑑\mathrm{\Sigma }},$$
(3)   
where we made use of the linearity of the integral in the numerator in $`B`$. Note that the second integral in the numerator is taken only over the area of the spot. The position vector $`\stackrel{}{r}^{}`$ of a point within the spot as defined here originates at the source center. The relative deviation of the amplification from the amplification of a spotless source is

$$\delta (\stackrel{}{r}_L)=\frac{AA_{}}{A_{}}(\stackrel{}{r}_L)=\frac{B_D(\stackrel{}{r}^{})𝑑\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}}{(BB_D)(\stackrel{}{r})𝑑\mathrm{\Sigma }}\left[1\frac{B_D(\stackrel{}{r}^{})A_0(|\stackrel{}{r}^{}\stackrel{}{r}_L|)𝑑\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}}{A_{}(\stackrel{}{r}_L)B_D(\stackrel{}{r}^{})𝑑\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}}\right].$$
(4)   
We employ a simple model for a small spot by using a constant decrement $`B_D`$ over a circular area with radius $`r_s1`$ on the projected face of the source star, centered at a distance $`s`$ from its center <sup>2</sup><sup>2</sup>2 Note that in this model the surface brightness within the spot is not constant, it decreases toward the limb of the source following the shape of the spotless profile $`B(r)`$.. This way we can compute both integrals in the numerator of equation (3) using the method for computing light curves of circularly symmetric sources described in Heyrovský & Loeb (1997). The expression for the amplification deviation in this model simplifies to

$$\delta (\stackrel{}{r}_L)=\frac{\pi r_s^2B_D}{(BB_D)(\stackrel{}{r})𝑑\mathrm{\Sigma }}\left[1\frac{A_0(|\stackrel{}{r}^{}\stackrel{}{r}_L|)𝑑\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}}{\pi r_s^2A_{}(\stackrel{}{r}_L)}\right].$$
(5)   
In the following we illustrate the effect of a test spot superimposed on a spotless model of a red giant similar to the M95-30 source. The 3750 K model atmosphere applied here is described in more detail in HSL. In most of the applications we use its $`V`$-band limb-darkening profile for the surface brightness distribution $`B(r)`$. The presented broadband results, however, do not change qualitatively for different spectral bands or source models in the small spot regime explored here.

The value of the brightness decrement $`B_D`$ depends on the physical properties of the spot, as well as its apparent position on the source disk. We can separate these two by expressing the decrement as $`B_D=(1\mu ^1)B(s)`$. Here we introduced the contrast parameter $`\mu `$, which is equal to the ratio of the spotless brightness at the position of the center of the spot $`B(s)`$ to the actual brightness at the same position $`B(s)B_D`$. The dependence of $`\mu `$ on the spot position $`s`$ is weak except when very close to the limb; we therefore neglect it here. The parameter $`\mu `$ now depends purely on intrinsic physical properties - namely, on the temperature contrast of the spot $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$T, the effective temperature of the star, and the spectral band. Its value can be obtained numerically by comparing model atmospheres of different temperatures. For example, $`\mu 10`$ for a $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$T=1000 K spot on the model source used. Values $`\mu <1`$ can be used to describe bright spots, while $`\mu =1`$ corresponds to zero contrast.

Sample light curves computed using equation (3) are presented in Figure 1. In all cases a lens with the M95-30 Einstein radius of $`ϵ=13.23`$ transits the source star with zero impact parameter. The spot has a radius $`r_s=0.2`$ and contrast $`\mu =10`$. When the lens directly crosses the spot (solid line; spot centered at $`s=0.4`$), there is a significant dip in the light curve. On the other hand, if the spot lies further from the lens path (dashed line; closest approach to spot = 0.3, $`s=0.5`$), the effect is weak. It consists primarily of a slight shift due to the offset center of brightness, and a minor increase in peak amplification.

To explore the range of possible spot signatures on light curves we study the relative amplification deviation using equation (5). The deviation, $`\delta `$, is primarily a function of parameters describing the lensing and spot geometries ($`\stackrel{}{r}_L,ϵ,s,r_s`$), and the spot contrast $`\mu `$ \- six parameters in all. The dependence of $`\delta `$ on the lens position $`\stackrel{}{r}_L`$ is illustrated by the contour plots in Figure 2, for different spot positions $`s`$. The three other parameters are kept fixed at values $`ϵ=13.23,r_s=0.2`$ and $`\mu =10`$. First we note that the deviation from the spotless light curve of the same source can be positive as well as negative, for any spot position <sup>3</sup><sup>3</sup>3 A dark spot can produce a positive effect, because the amplification (3) is normalized by the lower intrinsic flux from the spotted star.. The negative effect peaks at 18%–19% at the spot position in all four cases. This region of the source is relatively dimmer than in the spotless case. The weaker positive effect (2%–3%, less when $`s=0`$) peaks on the opposite side of the source close to the limb, a region relatively brighter than in the spotless case. Geometrically the actual deviation depends on the interplay of the distances of the lens from the spot, from the positive peak and from the limb.

Deviation curves for any particular lensing event with the given spot geometry can be read off directly from the plots in Figure 2. Examples corresponding to the four lens paths marked in Figure 2 are shown in Figure 3. Orienting our coordinate system as in Figure 2 with the spot along the positive $`x`$-axis, we parametrize the lens trajectory $`\stackrel{}{r}_L=(x_L,y_L)=(p\mathrm{sin}\beta +t\mathrm{cos}\beta ,p\mathrm{cos}\beta +t\mathrm{sin}\beta )`$, where $`t`$ is the time in units of source-radius crossing time measured from closest approach. The parameter $`\beta `$ is the angle between the spot position vector $`\stackrel{}{s}`$ and the lens velocity $`\dot{\stackrel{}{r}}_L`$. In this notation the impact parameter $`p`$ is given a sign depending on the lens motion - positive if $`\stackrel{}{r}_L`$ turns counterclockwise, negative if clockwise. The upper left-hand panel in Figure 3 corresponds to the maximum spot-transit effect. The three other panels demonstrate several other possible light curve deviations.

According to equation (5), the time dependence of the deviation (i.e., $`\stackrel{}{r}_L`$-dependence) can be separated from the dependence on the spot contrast ($`\mu `$ through $`B_D`$). It follows that changing the contrast affects only the amplitude of the deviation during a microlensing event, not its time dependence. To see the change in amplitude as a function of $`\mu `$, it is sufficient to look at the change in the maximum deviation during an event <sup>4</sup><sup>4</sup>4 The maximum deviation is therefore parametrized by $`p`$ and $`\beta `$ instead of $`\stackrel{}{r}_L`$., $`\delta _M=\mathrm{max}_t|\delta [\stackrel{}{r}_L(t)]|`$. The dependence of $`\delta _M`$ on spot contrast is shown in Figure 4. In this generic example an $`ϵ=13.23`$ lens has a zero impact parameter and a $`r_s=0.1`$ spot is centered on the source ($`s=0`$). The dependence is steep for $`\mu <5`$, but changes only slowly for $`\mu >10`$. Values of $`\mu `$ between 2 and 10 are thought to be typical of stellar dark spots, roughly corresponding to $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$T values of 250 to 1000 K, which is at the high end of spots observed in active stars. In most of the calculations presented here we use $`\mu =10`$ to study the maximum spot effect.

In a similar way we can study the dependence on the Einstein radius. We find that $`\delta _M`$ grows while $`ϵ<1`$, but remains practically constant for $`ϵ>2`$. This saturation is due to the linear dependence of amplification on $`ϵ`$ close to the light curve peak ($`|\stackrel{}{r}_L|ϵ`$) for sufficiently large $`ϵ`$. The ratio of amplifications in equation (5) then cancels out the $`ϵ`$-dependence.

The effect of spot size on $`\delta _M`$ is illustrated by the following two figures. Figure 5 demonstrates the detectability of spots on the projected stellar surface for various combinations of spot radius and impact parameter. Spots centered in the black regions will produce a maximum effect higher than 5%. Those centered in the gray areas have $`\delta _M<2\%`$, and thus would be difficult to detect. We can draw several conclusions for dark spots with sufficient contrast (here $`\mu =10`$). As a rule of thumb, small spots with radii $`r_s0.15`$ could be detected ($`\delta _M>2\%`$) if the lens passes within $`1.5r_s`$ of the spot center. Larger spots with $`r_s0.2`$ can be detected over a large area of the source during source-transit events, and possibly even marginally during near-transit events (e.g. $`p1.2`$). As a further interesting result, the maximum effect a spot of radius $`r_s`$ (within the studied range) can have during a transit event is numerically roughly $`\delta _Mr_s`$, irrespective of the actual impact parameter value. For example, a spot with radius 0.05 can have a maximum effect of 5%, and an $`r_s=0.2`$ spot can cause a 19% deviation.

Figure 6 is closely related to Figure 5. For a fixed impact parameter we plotted contours of the minimum radius of a spot (centered at the particular position) necessary to be detectable ($`\delta _M>2\%`$). As hinted above, during any transit event a spot with $`r_s0.3`$ located practically anywhere on the projected surface of the source will produce a detectable signature on the light curve.

Turning to the case of a bright spot, we can use the same approach as above with a negative decrement $`B_D`$ in formula (5), corresponding to contrast parameter $`\mu <1`$. As noted earlier, a change in the contrast affects only the amplitude but not the time dependence of the deviation. The only difference for a bright spot is a change in sign of the deviation due to negative $`B_D`$. Therefore the geometry of the contour plots in Figure 2 remains the same, only the contour values and poles are changed. The maximum deviation at the position of the bright spot is now positive, the weaker opposite peak is negative. Changing the sign of the deviation in Figure 3 in fact gives us deviation curves for a bright spot in the same geometry with $`\mu 0.5`$ instead of $`\mu =10`$. This correspondence can be seen from Figure 4, where both these values have a same maximum effect $`\delta _M`$. Unlike in the case of a dark spot, there is mathematically no upper limit on the relative effect of a bright spot. A very bright spot would achieve high magnification and dominate the light curve, acting as an individual source with radius $`r_s`$.

## 3 Change in Spectral Line Profiles

Studying spectral effects requires computing light curves for a large set of wavelengths simultaneously. Changes in the observed spectrum of a spotless source star due to microlensing are described in HSL. Most individual absorption lines respond in a generic way - they appear less prominent when the lens is crossing the limb of the source and become more prominent if the lens approaches the center of the source. The effect can be measured by the corresponding change in the equivalent width of the line.

The use of sensitive spectral lines can maximize the search for spots and active regions on the surfaces of microlensed stars (Sasselov 1997). Similar techniques are widely known and used in the direct study of the Sun. One example is observing the bandhead of the CH radical at 430.5 nm, which provides very high contrast to surface structure (Berger et al. 1995). This method will require spectroscopy of the microlensing event, but could be very rewarding.

For red giants such as the M95-30 source, the H$`\alpha `$ line will be sensitive to active regions on the surface (which often, but not always, accompany spots). To demonstrate the effect, we computed the H$`\alpha `$ profile using a five-level non-LTE solution for the hydrogen atom in a giant atmosphere, as described in HSL. We use the same source model as in the previous calculations (T=3750 K, $`\mathrm{log}g`$=0.5), for the active region ($`\mathrm{\Delta }`$T$``$800 K) we use the line profile of a $`\mathrm{log}g`$=2 giant with a chromosphere similar to that of $`\beta `$ Gem.

In Figure 7 we show a time sequence of the changing profile of H$`\alpha `$ distorted by an $`r_s=0.1`$ active region on the surface of the star. In the calculation we used the M95-30 Einstein radius and a zero impact parameter. The presence of the H$`\alpha `$-bright region leads to a noticeable change in the line profile; in its absence the change is considerably weaker. In this particular case, more pronounced wings as well as wing emission can be seen when the lens passes near the active region.

## 4 Discussion

The small spot model used in this work has obvious limitations. For example, the constant brightness decrement assumption is not adequate close to the limb, and spots can have various shapes and brightness structure (umbra, penumbra). However, most of these problems are not significant for sufficiently small spots and will not change the general character of the obtained results. The dependence of the deviation on the spotless brightness profile $`B(r)`$ was also neglected in the study (except for its effect on the contrast $`\mu `$). According to equation (5), it can be expected to have a weak effect on the amplitude, and due to the spotless amplification in equation (1) an even weaker effect on the time dependence of the amplification deviation in a microlensing event.

More importantly, it should be noted that the deviations computed in this paper are deviations from the light curve of the underlying spotless source in the same lensing geometry. This is not necessarily the best-fit spotless light curve for the given event. In practice, this will limit the range of the marginally detectable events with $`\delta _M2\%`$. Good photometry and spectroscopy combined with an adequate model atmosphere for the source star can reduce this problem.

The range of detectability will also be reduced if we consider the duration of the observable effect. If this effect occurs over too short a period, it could easily pass undetected. Source-crossing times in microlensing transit events can reach several days ($`3.5`$ days in M95-30 with $`p0.7`$; corresponding source-radius crossing time $`2.5`$ days). As seen from Figures 2 and 3, an effect $`\delta >2\%`$ can then last hours to days. Dense light curve sampling during any transit event can therefore lead to detections or at least provide good constraints on the presence of spots on the source star. Note that these timescales are too short to expect effects due to intrinsic changes in the spots or their significant motion in the case of red giant sources, which have typically slow rotation speeds. These effects should be considered only in long timescale events with smaller sources - events with an inherently low probability. In such events one has to additionally consider the foreshortening of a spot as it moves towards the limb of the source.

The source star can be expected to have more than just a single spot. The lensed flux is linear in $`B(\stackrel{}{r})`$; therefore, it can be split again into terms corresponding to individual spots and the underlying spotless source. An analysis similar to the one in this paper can then be performed. The single spot case provides helpful insight into the general case, even though the relative amplification deviation is not a linear combination of individual spot terms.

The presence of spots on microlensed stars (e.g., red giants) could complicate the interpretation of light curves that may be distorted due to a planetary companion of the lens (Gaudi & Gould 1997, Gaudi & Sackett 1999). A dark spot could be confused with the effect of a planet perturbing the minor image of the source, while a bright spot ($`\mu <1`$) can resemble a major image perturbation (see Figure 3). However, the spot effect is always localized near the peak region of the light curve, which is itself affected by the finite source size. Deviations due to planetary microlensing are usually expected as perturbations offset from the peak of a simple point-source light curve. In general it would be sufficient to look for signatures of limb-crossing during the event, by photometry in two or more spectral bands or by spectroscopy. Any color effect observable in a planetary microlensing event will occur within the period of the amplification deviation effect (Gaudi & Gould 1997). In the case of a spotted source, the color effect due to the spot will be preceded and followed by color effects due to limb crossing (see HSL).

High-magnification planetary microlensing events, in which the source crosses the perturbed caustic near the primary lens (Griest & Safizadeh 1998), can prove to be more difficult to distinguish, as they can also have a similar limb-crossing signature for a sufficiently large source. However, in such cases there will be no prominent perturbations between the two limb crossings, which can at least eliminate confusion with direct spot transits.

## 5 Summary

Stellar spots can be detected by observations of source-transit microlensing events. The amplification deviation due to the spot can be positive as well negative, depending on the relative configuration of the lens, source, and spot. In the small spot case ($`r_s0.2`$) studied here, we find that dark spots with radii $`r_s0.15`$ on the projected stellar disk can cause deviations $`\delta _M>2\%`$ if the lens passes within $`1.5r_s`$ of the spot center. Larger spots with $`r_s0.2`$ can be detected over a large area of the surface of the source during any transit event, in some cases even in near-transit events. Numerically we find that the maximum effect of a dark spot with sufficient contrast is roughly equal to the fractional spot radius $`r_s`$, when the spot is directly crossed. On the other hand a very bright spot can dominate the shape of the light curve. The obtained results on the relative amplification deviation are largely independent of the Einstein radius of the lens in the range $`ϵ>2`$; most microlensing events toward the Galactic bulge fall well within this range. The presence of spots and especially active regions can also be detected efficiently by observing the changing profiles of sensitive spectral lines during microlensing events with a small impact parameter.

Light curves due to sources with spots can resemble in some cases the effect of a low-mass companion of the lens. Good photometry and spectroscopy will suffice to distinguish the two in most cases by detecting additional limb-crossing effects in the case of a spotted star. Currently operating microlensing follow-up projects such as the Probing Lensing Anomalies NETwork (PLANET; Albrow et al. 1998) and Global Microlensing Alert Network (GMAN; Becker et al. 1997) can perform high-precision photometry with high sampling rates; both are sensitive enough to put constraints on the presence of spots in future source-transit events. As a result, over a few observing seasons statistical evidence for spots on red giants could be obtained, making an important contribution to our theoretical understanding of red giant atmospheres.

We would like to thank Avi Loeb for stimulating discussions and the anonymous referee for helpful suggestions on the manuscript.