Aims. The light curve of the microlensing event KMT-2021-BLG-1898 exhibits a short-term central anomaly with double-bump features that cannot be explained by the usual binary-lens or binary-source interpretations. With the aim of interpreting the anomaly, we analyze the lensing light curve under various sophisticated models.
Methods. We find that the anomaly is explained by a model, in which both the lens and source are binaries (2L2S model). For this interpretation, the lens is a planetary system with a planet/host mass ratio of q ~ 1.5 × 10−3, and the source is a binary composed of a turn off or a subgiant star and a mid K dwarf. The double-bump feature of the anomaly can also be depicted by a triple-lens model (3L1S model), in which the lens is a planetary system containing two planets. Among the two interpretations, the 2L2S model is favored over the 3L1S model not only because it yields a better fit to the data, by ∆χ2 = [14.3−18.5], but also the Einstein radii derived independently from the two stars of the binary source result in consistent values. According to the 2L2S interpretation, KMT-2021-BLG-1898 is the third planetary lensing event occurring on a binary stellar system, following MOA-2010-BLG-117 and KMT-2018-BLG-1743.
Results. Under the 2L2S interpretation, we identify two solutions resulting from the close-wide degeneracy in determining the planet-host separation. From a Bayesian analysis, we estimate that the planet has a mass of ~0.7−0.8 MJ, and it orbits an early M dwarf host with a mass of ~0.5 M⊙. The projected planet-host separation is ~1.9 AU and ~3.0 AU according to the close and wide solutions, respectively.