Related papers: DIFFRACTION EFFECTS IN MICROLENSING OF Q2237+0305
The magnifications of compact-source lenses are extremely sensitive to the presence of low mass dark matter halos along the entire sight line from the source to the observer. Traditionally, the study of dark matter structure in…
Aims. Falomo et al. (2005) discovered a disk-like galaxy at ~ 1.2 arcsec from the QSO Q0045-3337 by means of ESO VLT adaptive optics. They estimated a galaxy Einstein radius (for a point mass) of comparable size, thus pointing up the…
We propose a proper method to measure the size of the narrow line region (NLR) in distant quasars. The apparent angular size of the NLR is, in general, too small to resolve technically. However, it is possible to map the NLR if with…
An observing campaign with 10 participating observatories has undertaken to monitor the optical brightness of the Q0957 gravitationally lensed quasar for 10 consecutive nights in January 2000. The resulting A image brightness curve has…
We study the origin of absorption features on the blue side of the C IV broad emission line of the large-separation lensed quasar SDSS J1029+2623 at z_em ~ 2.197. The quasar images, produced by a foreground cluster of galaxies, have a…
Quadruply-imaged strongly lensed quasars (quads) are routinely used for measurements of the expansion rate of the Universe with time delays. It has recently been suggested that any quad lens is subject to a Malmquist-like bias that causes…
We propose a method for detecting gravitational magnification of distant sources, like quasars, due to absorber systems detected in their spectra. We first motivate the use of metal absorption lines rather than Lyman-alpha lines, then we…
Microlensing is a powerful tool for studying stellar atmospheres because as the source crosses regions of formally infinite magnification (caustics) the surfaceof the star is resolved, thereby allowing one to measure the radial intensity…
The quadruply lensed quasar HE0435-1223 shows a clear microlensing effect that affects differently the blue and red wings of the H$\alpha$ line profile in its image D. To interpret these observations, and constrain the broad emission line…
The observed enhancement of the Fe K$\alpha$ line in three gravitationally lensed QSOs (MG J0414+0534, QSO 2237+0305, H1413+117) is interpreted in terms of microlensing, even when equivalent X-ray continuum amplification is not observed. In…
We spectroscopically re-observed the gravitational lens system SDSS J1339+1310 using OSIRIS on the GTC. We also monitored the $r$-band variability of the two quasar images (A and B) with the LT over 143 epochs in the period 2009$-$2016.…
For an analysis of microlensing observational data in case of binary gravitational lenses as well as for an interpretation of observations of high magnification events in multiple images of a lensed quasar it is necessary to calculate for a…
Massive structures, such as galaxies, act as strong gravitational lenses on background sources. When the background source is a quasar, several lensed images are seen, as magnified or de-magnified versions of the same object. The detailed…
We examine the wavelength dependence of flux ratios for six gravitationally lensed quasars using K and L' images obtained at the Gemini North 8m telescope. We select lenses with source redshifts z_s < 2.8 so that K-band images probe…
This paper reviews the question of whether the wide separation double quasar Q2138-431 is a gravitational lens. From early work, the two quasar images are known to have almost identical spectra and redshifts, but no lensing galaxy has so…
The uncertain origin of the recently-discovered `changing-looking' quasar phenomenon -- in which a luminous quasar dims significantly to a quiescent state in repeat spectroscopy over ~10 year timescales -- may present unexpected challenges…
While gravitationally lensed quasars are expected to display an odd number of images, invariably systems are observed with an even number of quasars. For this, lensing galaxies must have very small core radii; this provides strong…
The multiply imaged, gravitationally lensed quasar, QSO 2237+0305, has been the subject of recent optical monitoring campaigns, with its light curves displaying uncorrelated variability attributed to gravitational microlensing by masses in…
The gravitational lensing constraints on the small mass end of the LCDM mass function are discussed. Here a conservative approach is taken where only the most difficult to explain image flux anomalies in strong QSO lenses are emphasized.…
Submillimeter (and in some cases millimeter) wavelength continuum measurements are presented for a sample of 40 active galactic nuclei (probably all quasars) lensed by foreground galaxies. The object of this study is to use the lensing…