We complete the analysis of all 2018 prime-field microlensing planets identified by the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet) Anomaly Finder. Among the ten previously unpublished events with clear planetary solutions, eight are either unambiguously planetary or are very likely to be planetary in nature: OGLE-2018-BLG-1126, KMT-2018-BLG-2004, OGLE-2018-BLG-1647, OGLE-2018-BLG-1367, OGLE-2018-BLG-1544, OGLE-2018-BLG-0932, OGLE-2018-BLG-1212, and KMT-2018-BLG-2718. Combined with the four previously published new Anomaly Finder events and 12 previously published (or in preparation) planets that were discovered by eye, this makes a total of 24 2018 prime-field planets discovered or recovered by Anomaly Finder. Together with a paper in preparation on 2018 subprime planets, this work lays the basis for the first statistical analysis of the planet mass-ratio function based on planets identified in KMTNet data. By systematically applying the heuristic analysis to each event, we identified the small modification in their formalism that is needed to unify the so-called close-wide and inner-outer degeneracies.

In order to exhume the buried signatures of "missing planetary caustics" in the KMTNet data, we conducted a systematic anomaly search to the residuals from point-source point-lens fits, based on a modified version of the KMTNet EventFinder algorithm. This search reveals the lowest mass-ratio planetary caustic to date in the microlensing event OGLE-2019-BLG-1053, for which the planetary signal had not been noticed before. The planetary system has a planet-host mass ratio of q = (1.25±0.13)×10 −5 . A Bayesian analysis yields estimates of the mass of the host star, M host = 0.61 +0.29 −0.24 M , the mass of its planet, M planet = 2.48 +1.19 −0.98 M ⊕ , the projected planet-host separation, a ⊥ = 3.4 +0.5 −0.5 au, and the lens distance of D L = 6.8 +0.6 −0.9 kpc. The discovery of this very low mass-ratio planet illustrates the utility of our method and opens a new window for a large and homogeneous sample to study the microlensing planet-host mass-ratio function down to q ∼ 10 −5 .

Planet formation theories predict the existence of free-floating planets that have been ejected from their parent systems. Although they emit little or no light, they can be detected during gravitational microlensing events. Microlensing events caused by rogue planets are characterized by very short timescales tE (typically below two days) and small angular Einstein radii θE (up to several μas). Here we present the discovery and characterization of two ultra-short microlensing events identified in data from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) survey, which may have been caused by free-floating or wide-orbit planets. OGLE-2012-BLG-1323 is one of the shortest events discovered thus far (tE = 0.155 ± 0.005 d, θE = 2.37 ± 0.10μas) and was caused by an Earth-mass object in the Galactic disk or a Neptune-mass planet in the Galactic bulge. OGLE-2017-BLG-0560 (tE = 0.905 ± 0.005 d, θE = 38.7 ± 1.6μas) was caused by a Jupiter-mass planet in the Galactic disk or a brown dwarf in the bulge. We rule out stellar companions up to a distance of 6.0 and 3.9 au, respectively. We suggest that the lensing objects, whether located on very wide orbits or free-floating, may originate from the same physical mechanism. Although the sample of ultrashort microlensing events is small, these detections are consistent with low-mass wide-orbit or unbound planets being more common than stars in the Milky Way.

High-cadence observations of the Galactic bulge by the microlensing surveys led to the discovery of a handful of extremely short-timescale microlensing events that can be attributed to free-floating or wide-orbit planets. Here, we report the discovery of another strong free-floating planet candidate, which was found from the analysis of the gravitational microlensing event OGLE-2019-BLG-0551. The light curve of the event is characterized by a very short duration (3 days) and a very small amplitude (0.1 mag). From modeling of the light curve, we find that the Einstein timescale, =  t 0.381 0.017 E day, is much shorter, and the angular Einstein radius, q =  4.35 0.34 E μas, is much smaller than those of typical lensing events produced by stellar-mass lenses (t 20 E days, q~0.3 E mas), indicating that the lens is very likely to be a planetary-mass object. We conduct an extensive search for possible signatures of a companion star in the light curve of the event, finding no significant evidence for the putative host star. For the first time, we also demonstrate that the angular Einstein radius of the lens does not depend on blending in the low-magnification events with strong finite source effects.

We apply the automated AnomalyFinder algorithm of Paper I to 2018–2019 light curves from the ≃13 deg2 covered by the six KMTNet prime fields, with cadences Γ ≥ 2 hr−1. We find a total of 11 planets with mass ratios q < 2 × 10−4, including 6 newly discovered planets, 1 planet that was reported in Paper I, and recovery of 4 previously discovered planets. One of the new planets, OGLE-2018-BLG-0977Lb, is in a planetary caustic event, while the other five (OGLE-2018-BLG-0506Lb, OGLE-2018-BLG-0516Lb, OGLE-2019-BLG-1492Lb, KMT-2019-BLG-0253, and KMT-2019-BLG-0953) are revealed by a “dip” in the light curve as the source crosses the host-planet axis on the opposite side of the planet. These subtle signals were missed in previous by-eye searches. The planet-host separations (scaled to the Einstein radius), s, and planet-host mass ratios, q, are, respectively, (s, q × 105) = (0.88, 4.1), (0.96 ± 0.10, 8.3), (0.94 ± 0.07, 13), (0.97 ± 0.07, 18), (0.97 ± 0.04, 4.1), and (0.74, 18), where the “ ± ” indicates a discrete degeneracy. The 11 planets are spread out over the range − 5 < log q < − 3.7 . Together with the two planets previously reported with q ∼ 10−5 from the 2018–2019 nonprime KMT fields, this result suggests that planets toward the bottom of this mass-ratio range may be more common than previously believed.