Back to Search Start Over

TIME DELAY AND ACCRETION DISK SIZE MEASUREMENTS IN THE LENSED QUASAR SBS 0909+532 FROM MULTIWAVELENGTH MICROLENSING ANALYSIS.

Authors :
HAINLINE, LAURA J.
MORGAN, CHRISTOPHER W.
MACLEOD, CHELSEA L.
LANDAAL, ZACHARY D.
KOCHANEK, C. S.
HARRIS, HUGH C.
TILLEMAN, TRUDY
GOICOECHEA, L. J.
SHALYAPIN, V. N.
FALCO, EMILIO E.
Source :
Astrophysical Journal. 9/ 1/2013, Vol. 774 Issue 1, p1-11. 11p.
Publication Year :
2013

Abstract

We present three complete seasons and two half-seasons of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) r-band photometry of the gravitationally lensed quasar SBS 0909+532 from the U.S. Naval Observatory, as well as two seasons each of SDSS g-band and r-band monitoring from the Liverpool Robotic Telescope. Using Monte Carlo simulations to simultaneously measure the system's time delay and model the r-band microlensing variability, we confirm and significantly refine the precision of the system's time delay to ⊗tAB = 50+2 -4 days, where the stated uncertainties represent the bounds of the formal 1σ confidence interval. There may be a conflict between the time delay measurement and a lens consisting of a single galaxy. While models based on the Hubble Space Telescope astrometry and a relatively compact stellar distribution can reproduce the observed delay, the models have somewhat less dark matter than we would typically expect. We also carry out a joint analysis of the microlensing variability in the r and g bands to constrain the size of the quasar's continuum source at these wavelengths, obtaining log{(rs,r/cm)[cos i/0.5]1/2} = 15.3 ± 0.3 and log{(rs,g/cm)[cos i/0.5]1/2} = 14.8 ± 0.9, respectively. Our current results do not formally constrain the temperature profile of the accretion disk but are consistent with the expectations of standard thin disk theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
0004637X
Volume :
774
Issue :
1
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
Astrophysical Journal
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
90184095
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/774/1/69