Possible Solution of the long-standing discrepancy in the Microlensing
  Optical Depth Toward the Galactic Bulge by correcting the stellar number
  count
  We find that significant incompleteness in stellar number counts results in a
significant overestimate of the microlensing optical depth $\tau$ and event
rate per star per year $\Gamma$ toward the Galactic bulge from the first two
years of the MOA-II survey. We find that the completeness in Red Clump Giant
(RCG) counts $f_{\rm RC}$ decreases proportional to the galactic latitude $b$,
as $f_{\rm RC}=(0.63\pm0.11)-(0.052\pm0.028)\times b$, ranging between 1 and
0.7 at $b=-6^\circ\sim-1.5^\circ$. The previous measurements using all sources
by Difference Image Analysis (DIA) by MACHO and MOA-I suffer the same bias. On
the other hand, the measurements using a RCG sample by OGLE-II, MACHO and EROS
were free from this bias because they selected only the events associated with
the resolved stars. Thus, the incompleteness both in the number of events and
stellar number count cancel out. We estimate $\tau$ and $\Gamma$ by correcting
this incompleteness. In the central fields with $|l|<5^\circ$, we find
$\Gamma=[18.74\pm0.91]\times10^{-6}\exp[(0.53\pm0.05)(3-|b|)]$ star$^{-1}$
yr$^{-1}$ and $\tau_{200}=[1.84\pm0.14]\times10^{-6}\exp[(0.44\pm0.07)(3-|b|)]$
for the 427 events with $t_{\rm E}\leq200\,$days using all sources brighter
than $I_s\leq20$ mag. Our revised all-source $\tau$ measurements are about
2-$\sigma$ smaller than the other all-source measurements and are consistent
with the RCG measurements within 1-$\sigma$. We conclude that the long-standing
problem on discrepancy between the high $\tau$ with all-source samples by DIA
and low $\tau$ with RCG samples can probably be explained by the incompleteness
of the stellar number count. A model fit to these measurements predicts
$\Gamma=4.60\pm0.25\times10^{-5}$ star$^{-1}$ yr$^{-1}$ at $|b|\sim-1^\circ.4$
and $-2^\circ.25<l<3^\circ.75$ for sources with $I<20$, where the future space
mission WFIRST will observe.
