Satellite Parallaxes of Lensing Events toward the Galactic Bulge

In order to understand the nature of the lenses that generate microlensing events, one would like to measure their mass, distance, and velocity. Unfortunately, current microlensing experiments measure only one parameter of the events, the characteristic timescale, which is a combination of the underlying physical parameters. Other methods are required to extract additional information. Parallax measurements using a satellite in an Earth-like orbit yield the projected velocity of the lens: tilde-v = v/(1 - z), where v is the transverse velocity (speed and direction) of the lens relative to the Earth-source line of sight, and z is the ratio of the distances to the lens and the source. A measurement of tilde-v could distinguish between lenses belonging to the bulge and disk populations. We show that for photometric precisions of 1%-2%, it is possible to measure the projected speed, tilde-v, to an accuracy of ≤10% for over 70% of disk lenses and over 60% of bulge lenses. For measuring the projected velocity tilde-v, the percentages are 40% and 30%, respectively. We find lines of sight greater than 2° away from the ecliptic are preferable, and an Earth-satellite separation in the range 0.7 AU-1.9 AU is optimal. The requirements of the satellite for measuring the projected velocities of events toward the bulge are similar to those for measurements toward the LMC