Measuring the Rotation Speed of Giant Stars from Gravitational Microlensing

During some gravitational lensing events, the lens transits the disk of the star. This event causes a shift in the apparent radial velocity of the star proportional to the star's rotation speed. The magnification of such an event is different from that expected for a point source. By measuring both effects, one can determine the rotation parameter v sin i . The method is especially useful for K-giant stars because these stars have turbulent velocities that are typically large compared with their rotation speed. By making a series of radial velocity measurements, one can typically determine v sin i to the same accuracy as the individual radial velocity measurements. There are approximately 10 microlensing transit events per year that would be suitable for these measurements.