Amplification and variability of the AGN X-ray emission due to microlensing

Abstract

We consider the contribution of microlensing to the AGN Fe K$\hat{I}\pm$ line and X-ray continuum amplification and variation. To investigate the variability of the line and X-ray continuum, we studied the effects of microlensing on quasar X-ray spectra produced by crossing of a microlensing pattern across a standard relativistic accretion disk. To describe the disk emission we used a ray tracing method considering both metrics, Schwarzschild and Kerr. We found that the Fe K$\hat{I}\pm$ and continuum may experience significant amplification by a microlensing event (even for microlenses of very small mass). Also, we investigate a contribution of microlensing to the X-ray variability of high-redshifted QSOs, finding that cosmologically distributed deflector may contribute significantly to the X-ray variability of high-redshifted QSOs (z>2).

4 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomische Nachrichten, proceedings of the ESAC Workshop "Variable and Broad Iron Lines around Black Holes"