Microlensing of Broad Absorption Line Quasars: Polarization Variability

Abstract

Roughly 10% of all quasars exhibit Broad Absorption Line (BAL) features which appear to arise in material outflowing at high velocity from the active galactic nucleus (AGN). The details of this outflow are, however, very poorly constrained and the particular nature of the BAL material is essentially unknown. Recently, new clues have become available through polarimetric studies which have found that BAL troughs are more polarized than the quasar continuum radiation. To explain these observations, models where the BAL material outflows equatorially across the surface of the dusty torus have been developed. In these models, however, several sources of the BAL polarization are possible. Here, we demonstrate how polarimetric monitoring of gravitationally lensed quasars, such as H 1413+117, during microlensing events can not only distinguish between two currently popular models, but can also provide further insight into the structure at the cores of BAL quasars.

17 pages, 3 figures, accepted to PASP

References in corpus (5)

• Determination of the transverse velocity of Q2237+0305
• KECK HIRES Spectroscopy of APM 08279+5255
• Source Size Limitation from Variabilities of a Lensed Quasar
• Broad Absorption Line Quasars and the Radio-Loud/Radio-Quiet Dichotomy
• X-rays from the Highly Polarized Broad Absorption Line QSO CSO 755

Cited by in corpus (12)

• Microlensing of the broad line region in 17 lensed quasars
• Gravitational microlensing of quasar broad line regions at large optical depths
• Microlensing of a Biconical Broad Line Region
• Microlensing in H1413+117 : disentangling line profile emission and absorption in a broad absorption line quasar
• Cosmological Microlensing Statistics: Variability rates for Quasars and GRB Afterglows, and implications for macrolensing magnification bias and flux ratios
• Hubble Space Telescope Observations of the Gravitationally Lensed Cloverleaf Broad Absorption Line QSO H1413+1143: Imaging Polarimetry and Evidence for Microlensing of a Scattering Region
• Spectroscopy and polarimetry of the gravitationally lensed quasar SDSS J1004+4112 with the 6m SAO RAS telescope
• Gravitational microlensing of stars with transiting planets
• Resolving the Structure at the Heart of BAL Quasars Through Microlensing Induced Polarisation Variability
• Spectroscopy and polarimetry of the gravitationally lensed quasar Q0957+561
• Probing the Atmospheres of Planets Orbiting Microlensed Stars via Polarization Variability
• Gravitational Microlensing as a probe of the Electron Scattering Region in Q2237+0305