Related papers: Source Size Limitation from Variabilities of a Len…
We present three new Chandra X-ray epochs along with new ground-based optical-UV observations as the third installment in a time-series analysis of four high-redshift ($z\sim4.1-4.4$) radio-quiet quasars (RQQs). In total, we present nine…
We investigate the weak lensing effects of line-of-sight structures on quadruple images in quasar-galaxy strong lens systems based on N-body and ray-tracing simulations that can resolve halos with a mass of 10^5 solar mass. The intervening…
Observed magnitudes of many quasars with redshifts exceeding $z=5$ correspond to luminosities $L_{\rm bol} > 10^{14}\,L_\odot$. The standard mechanism of quasar energy release by accretion suggests that masses of superluminous quasars…
In weak gravitational lensing, the image distortion caused by shear measures the projected tidal gravitational field of the deflecting mass distribution. To lowest order, the shear is proportional to the mean image ellipticity. If the image…
In the current paper we consider the prospects of observation of gravitationally lensed sources in far-infrared and submillimeter wavelength ranges by the future space telescopes equipped with actively cooled main mirrors. We consider the…
Brightness variability of QSOs is associated with variations of the spectral energy distribution in the optical-UV range. The observed change of the spectral shape depends on the contribution of the host galaxy. Simulations, taking into…
Context. Strong lenses are a biased subset of the general population of galaxies. Aims. The goal of this work is to quantify how lens galaxies and lensed sources differ from their parent distribution, namely the strong lensing bias.…
Using a sample of over 25000 spectroscopically confirmed quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we show how quasar variability in the rest frame optical/UV regime depends upon rest frame time lag, luminosity, rest wavelength, redshift,…
We demonstrate that for several of the gravitational lens models used to describe galaxies, there exists a quantity we dub the magnification invariant, equaling the sum of the signed magnifications of the images, that is a constant when the…
We present results from a monitoring program of 42 quasars from the Palomar Green sample. The objects were observed for 7 years at the Wise Observatory, as part of a long term effort to monitor AGN of various types. This is the most…
We consider an alternative formula for time delay in gravitational lensing. Imposing a smoothness condition on the gravitationally deformed paths followed by the photons from the source to the observer, we show that our formula displays the…
After a brief reminder of the mechanism of gravitational lensing of extended sources, the particular case of the host galaxy of QSO RXJ0911, a high redshift (z~2.8) quadruply imaged quasar, is explored. The non linearity of the problem,…
We analyze 1598 serendipitous Chandra X-ray observations of 462 radio-quiet quasars to constrain the frequency of extreme amplitude X-ray variability that is intrinsic to the quasar corona and innermost accretion flow. The quasars in this…
We predict the effects of gravitational lensing on the color-selected flux-limited samples of z~4.3 and z>5.8 quasars, recently published by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Our main findings are: (i) The lensing probability should be…
Plane-symmetric gravitational waves are considered as gravitational lenses. Numbers of images, frequency shifts, mutual angles, and image distortion parameters are computed exactly in essentially all non-singular plane wave spacetimes. For…
Gravitational microlensing of planetary-mass objects (or "nanolensing", as it has been termed) can be used to probe the distribution of mass in a galaxy that is acting as a gravitational lens. Microlensing and nanolensing light curve…
Strongly lensed quasars with time-delay measurements are well known to provide the "time-delay distances" $D_{\Delta t}=(1+z_L)D_LD_S/D_{LS}$ and the angular diameter distances to lens galaxies $D_L$. These two kinds of distances give…
Gravitational lensing magnification is maximal around caustics. At these source locations, an incoming wave from a point source would formally experience an infinite amplification in the high-frequency or geometric optics limit. This…
CONTEXT: Gravitationally lensed quasars constitute an independent tool to derive H0 through time-delays; they offer as well the opportunity to study the mass distribution and interstellar medium of their lensing galaxies and, through…
The gravitational fields of astrophysical bodies bend the light around them, creating multiple paths along which light from a distant source can arrive at Earth. Measuring the difference in photon arrival time along these different paths…