Microlensing to probe the quasar structure: spectrophotometry of Q2237+0305 and of J1131-1231

TL;DR

This study uses long-term spectrophotometric monitoring of two gravitationally lensed quasars to investigate microlensing effects, revealing chromatic variations, emission line deformations, and insights into the structure of quasar emission regions.

Contribution

First long-term spectrophotometric analysis of these quasars, providing detailed microlensing effects on continuum and emission lines, and insights into quasar structure.

Findings

Microlensing causes chromatic continuum variations in Q2237+0305.

Emission line profiles are deformed by microlensing, indicating different emission region sizes.

FeII emission is differentially microlensed, suggesting multiple emission regions.

Abstract

We present the main results of the first long-term spectrophotometric monitoring of the ``Einstein cross'' Q2237+0305 and of the single-epoch spectra of the lensed quasar J1131-1231. From October 2004 to December 2006, we find that two prominent microlensing events affect images A & B in Q2237+0305 while images C & D remain grossly unaffected by microlensing on a time scale of a few months. Microlensing in A & B goes with chromatic variations of the quasar continuum. We observe stronger micro-amplification in the blue than in the red part of the spectrum, as expected for continuum emission arising from a standard accretion disk. Microlensing induced variations of the CIII] emission are observed both in the integrated line intensity and profile. Finally, we also find that images C & D are about 0.1-0.3 mag redder than images A & B. The spectra of images A-B-C in J1131-1231 reveal that, in April 2003, microlensing was at work in images A and C. We find that microlensing de-amplifies the continuum emission and the Broad Line Region (BLR) in these images. Contrary to the case of Q2237+0305, we do not find evidence for chromatic microlensing of the continuum emission. On the other hand, we observe that the Balmer and MgII broad line profiles are deformed by microlensing. These deformations imply an anti-correlation between the width of the emission line and the size of the corresponding emitting region. Finally, the differential microlensing of the FeII emission suggests that the bulk of FeII is emitted in the outer parts of the BLR while another fraction of FeII is produced in a compact region.