On a systematic bias in SBF-based distances due to gravitational microlensing
arXiv:astro-ph/0606719 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2006.10748.x
Abstract
The effect of gravitational microlensing on the determination of extragalactic distances using surface brightness fluctuations (SBF) technique is considered and a method to calculate SBF amplitudes in presence of microlensing is presented. With a simple approximation for the magnification power spectrum at low optical depth the correction to the SBF-based luminosity distance is calculated. The results suggest the effect can be safely neglected at present but may become important for SBF-based Hubble diagrams at luminosity distances of about 1 Gpc and beyond.
11 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS