Related papers: Microlensing of Broad Absorption Line Quasars
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…
Broad absorption lines (BALs), seen in a small fraction of both the radio-quiet and radio-loud quasar populations, are probably caused by the outflow of gas with high velocities and are part of the accretion process. The presence of BALs is…
Although controversial, the scenario of microlensing as the dominant mechanism for the long-term optical variability of quasars does provide a natural explanation for both the statistical symmetry, achromaticity and lack of cosmological…
We show that by analyzing the spectra of lensed broad absorption line quasars (BALQSOs), it is possible to reveal key properties of the outflowing gas in the inner regions of these objects. This results from the fact that each image of the…
We present the results of microlens ray-tracing simulations showing the effect of absorbing material between a source quasar and a lensing galaxy in a gravitational lens system. We find that, in addition to brightness fluctuations due to…
Selective amplification of the line and continuum source by microlensing in a lensed quasar can lead to changes of continuum spectral slopes and line shapes in the spectra of the quasar components. Comparing the spectra of different…
The broad absorption line (BAL) features seen in a small fraction of quasar optical/UV spectra are attributed to bulk outflows away from the quasar core. Observational evidence suggests that dust plays a key role in these systems, although…
Our aim is to examine the size, kinematics, and geometry of the broad-line region (BLR) in the double-lensed quasar Q 0957+561 by analyzing the impact of microlensing on various rest-frame ultraviolet broad-emission lines (BELs). We explore…
Microlensing studies of quasars can reveal dark matter lumps over a broad mass spectrum; we highlight the importance of monitoring quasars which are seen through the halos of low-redshift galaxies. For these configurations microlensing by…
We study the BELs in a sample of 11 gravitationally lensed quasars with at least two epochs of observation to identify intrinsic variability and to disentangle it from microlensing. To improve our statistical significance we also include 15…
Lensed quasars are powerful cosmic laboratories; they are used to simultaneously probe various astrophysical phenomena. Microlensing by stars within distant galaxies acts as strong gravitational lenses of multiply imaged quasars, and…
We present the analysis of single epoch long slit spectra of the three brightest images of the gravitationally lensed system J1131-1231. These spectra provide one of the clearest observational evidence for differential micro-lensing of…
Luminous quasars are powerful targets to investigate the role of feedback from supermassive black-holes (BHs) in regulating the growth phases of BHs themselves and of their host galaxies, up to the highest redshifts. Here we investigate the…
A key to understanding quasar unification paradigms is the emission properties of broad absorption line quasars (BALQs). The fact that only a small fraction of quasar spectra exhibit deep absorption troughs blueward of the broad permitted…
With the detection of black hole mergers by the LIGO gravitational wave telescope, there has been increasing interest in the possibility that dark matter may be in the form of solar mass primordial black holes. One of the predictions…
We briefly review, at a level appropriate for graduate students and non-specialists, the field of quasar absorption lines (QALs). Emphasis is on the intervening absorbers. We present the anatomy of a quasar spectrum due to various classes…
The absorption lines observed in quasar spectra have given us a detailed picture of the intergalactic medium and the metal abundance and kinematics of high redshift galaxies. In this review, we present an introduction to the field, starting…
The simple physics of microlensing provides a well-understood tool with which to probe the atmospheres of distant stars in the Galaxy and Local Group with high magnification and resolution. Recent results in measuring stellar surface…
We aim to unveil the structure of the continuum and broad-emission line (BEL) emitting regions in the gravitationally lensed quasar SDSS J1339+1310 by examining the distinct signatures of microlensing present in this system. Our study…
Broad absorption lines seen in some quasars prove the existence of ionized plasma outflows from the accretion disk. Outflows together with powerful jets are important feedback processes. Understanding physics behind BAL outflows might be a…