Strong gravitational lensing of blazar gamma-radiation and intergalactic magnetic fields

Abstract

The influence of intergalactic magnetic fields on the strong gravitational lensing of blazar secondary gamma radiation is discussed. Currently, two cases of strong gravitational lensing of blazar gamma-radiation are known, where radiation is deflected by galaxies on the line of sight between the blazars and the Earth. The magnetic field can affect the movements of electron-positron pairs generated by primary radiation, and thereby change the directions of secondary gamma radiation. It modifies the equation of the gravitational lens and leads to the dependence of the observed signal in the secondary gamma radiation on the energy of photons and on the magnetic field. Accordingly, it is possible in principle to estimate the intergalactic magnetic fields from the time delay of signals, from the angular position of images (for future high-resolution gamma-ray telescopes) or from the shape of the observed energy spectrum. This method is demonstrated by the example of the blazar B0218+357. In this case however it is not possible to obtain useful constraints due to the large distances to the blazar and the lens galaxy. The result is only a lower limit on the magnetic field $B>2\times 10^{-17}$G, which is weaker than other existing constraints. But the future discoveries of lensed blazars may provide more favourable opportunities for measuring the magnetic fields, especially with the help of new generation of gamma-ray telescopes such as e-ASTROGAM, GECAM, and SVOM as well as future gamma-ray telescopes with high angular resolution, ~0.1''.

8 pages, 2 figures, to be published in Chinese Physics C

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Cited by in corpus (1)

• On the nature of LOFAR RMs and new constraints on magnetic fields in cosmic filaments and on magnetogenesis scenarios