Determination of the properties of the central engine in microlensed QSOs

Abstract

We study a recently observed gravitational microlensing peak in the V-band light curve of Q2237+0305A using a relatively simple, but highly consistent with the data (the best-fit reduced χ^2 is very close to 1), physical model. The source quasar is assumed to be a Newtonian geometrically-thin and optically-thick accretion disk. The disk has an arbitrary orientation, and both blackbody and greybody emission spectra are considered. When the electron-photon scattering plays a role, the greybody spectrum will be a simplified version of the exact one. In our model the microlensing variability result from the source crossing a caustic straight line. The main goal is to estimate the black hole mass and the mass accretion rate in QSO 2237+0305 as well as to discuss the power and the weakness of the technique, some possible improvements, and the future prospects from multifrequency monitoring of new microlensing peaks. We also put into perspective the new methodology and the results on the central engine in QSO 2237+0305. From the fitted microlensing parameters and reasonable dynamical/cosmological constraints, it is concluded that QSO 2237+0305 harbours a central massive black hole: 10^7 M_Sun < M < 6 10^8 M_Sun. While the information about the central dark mass is very interesting, the mass accretion rate is not so well constrained. The typical values of the disk luminosity/Eddington luminosity ratio are in the (1-20)*εrange, where ε\leq 1 is the emissivity relative to a blackbody and the highest L/L_{Edd} ratio corresponds to the largest deflector motion. Therefore, in order to verify L/L_{Edd} \leq 1, a relatively small projected peculiar motion of the lens galaxy and a greybody emission seem to be favored.

arXiv commentAstron. Astrophys., in press (LaTeX, 18 pages, 4 eps figures)

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Cited by in corpus (13)

• The Sizes of the X-ray and Optical Emission Regions of RXJ1131-1231
• A microlensing measurement of the size of the broad emission line region in the lensed QSO 2237+0305
• Discovery of Energy Dependent X-ray Microlensing in Q2237+0305
• New database for a sample of optically bright lensed quasars in the northern hemisphere
• Statistics of Microlensing Caustic Crossings in Q~2237+0305: Peculiar Velocity of the Lens Galaxy and Accretion Disk Size
• Interpreting microlensing signal in QSO 2237+0305: Stars or planets?
• Gravitational lens system SDSS J1339+1310: microlensing factory and time delay
• Resolving the Innermost Region of the Accretion Disk of the Lensed Quasar Q 2237+0305 through Gravitational Microlensing
• Limits on the Transverse Velocity of the Lensing Galaxy in Q2237+0305 from the Lack of Strong Microlensing Variability
• Is there a caustic crossing in the lensed quasar Q2237+0305 observational data record?
• Asymptotic Expansions and Amplification of a Gravitational Lens Near a Fold Caustic
• QSO size ratios from multiband monitoring of a microlensing high-magnification event
• Gravitationally lensed QSOs in the ISSIS/WSO-UV era