Related papers: Microlensing of a Ring Model for Quasar Structure
We review results from our monitoring observations of several lensed quasars performed in the optical, UV, and X-ray bands. Modeling of the multi-wavelength light curves provides constraints on the extent of the optical, UV, and X-ray…
The microlensing signal in the light curves of gravitationally lensed quasars can shed light on the dark matter (DM) composition in their lensing galaxies. Here, we investigate a sample of six lensed quasars from the most recent and best…
As there is a long-standing controversy over the time delay between the two images of the gravitationally lensed quasar FBQ 0951+2635, we combined early and new optical light curves to robustly measure a delay of 13.5 +/- 1.6 d (1sigma…
We calculated the expected microlens light curves for several accretion-flow models and compared the results to find what aspects of distinct flow structures can be extracted from the microlens light curves. As for the flow models, we…
We report the serendipitous discovery of an "Einstein Ring" in the optical band from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data and associated four images of a background source. The lens galaxy appears to be a nearby dwarf spheroid at a…
We introduce a novel method to derive rotation curves with light-day spatial resolution of the inner regions of lensed quasars. We aim to probe the kinematics of the inner part of the broad-line region (BLR) by resolving the microlensing…
Using a microlensing analysis of 11-years of OGLE V-band photometry of the four image gravitational lens Q2237+0305, we measure the inclination i of the accretion disk to be cos i > 0.66 at 68% confidence. Very edge on (cos i < 0.39)…
Since the original baryonic dark matter detection from quasar microlensing was first announced in 1996, substantial strides have been made in confirming the rapid microlensing signature in the Q0957 system and in other gravitational lens…
We present a tool to generate mock quasar microlensing light curves and sample them according to any observing strategy. An updated treatment of the fixed and random velocity components of observer, lens, and source is used, together with a…
We report the detection of anomalous brightness fluctuations in the multiple image Q0957+561 A,B gravitational lens system, and consider whether such anomalies have a plausible interpretation within the framework of cosmic string theory. We…
We present the first spatially resolved spectroscopic observations of the recently discovered quadruple QSO and gravitational lens HE0435-1223. Using the Potsdam Multi-Aperture Spectrophotometer (PMAS), we show that all four QSO components…
We present a microlensing analysis of updated light curves in three filters, $g$--band, $r$--band, and $H$--band, for the gravitationally lensed quasars Q0957+561 and SBS0909+532. Both systems display prominent microlensing features which…
We aim to use microlensing taking place in the lensed quasar Q2237+0305 to study the structure of the broad line region and measure the size of the region emitting the CIV and CIII] lines. Methods: Based on 39 spectrophotometric monitoring…
We use published mid-IR and V-band flux ratios for images A and B of Q2237+0305 to demonstrate that the size of the mid-IR emission region has a scale comparable to or larger than the microlens Einstein Radius (ER, ~10^17 cm for solar mass…
The passage of stars through the beam of a lensed quasar can induce violent fluctuations in its apparent brightness. The fluctuations observed in the Huchra lens, (2237+0305), are taken to be the first evidence of this ``microlensing''…
We present a source and lens reconstruction for the optical Einstein ring gravitational lens system RXS J1131-1231. We resolve detail in the source, which is the host galaxy of a $z=0.658$ quasar, down to a resolution of 0.045 arc seconds…
We have searched for microlensing variability in the light curves of five gravitationally lensed quasars with well-determined time delays: SBS 1520+530, FBQ 0951+2635, RX J0911+0551, B1600+434 and HE 2149-2745. By comparing the light curve…
We present an extended optical monitoring of the quadruply-imaged gravitationally lensed quasar QSO 2237+0305, the Einstein Cross, including observations from different observatories in both hemispheres and using a new photometric…
Microlensing promises to be a powerful tool for studying distant galaxies and quasars. As the data and models improve, there are systematic effects that need to be explored. Quasar continuum and broad-line regions may respond differently to…
Quasar microlensing analyses implicitly generate a model of the variability of the source quasar. The implied source variability may be unrealistic yet its likelihood is generally not evaluated. We used the damped random walk (DRW) model…