X-Ray Monitoring of Gravitational Lenses with Chandra
Abstract
We present Chandra monitoring data for six gravitationally lensed quasars: QJ 0158-4325, HE 0435-1223, SDSS 0924+0219, SDSS 1004+4112, HE 1104-1805, and Q 2237+0305. X-ray microlensing variability is detected in all six lenses with high confidence. We furthermore detect energy-dependent microlensing in HE 0435-1223, SDSS 0924+0219, SDSS 1004+4112, and Q 2237+0305. Through a detailed spectral analysis for each lens we find that simple power-law models plus Gaussian emission lines give good fits to the spectra. We detect intrinsic spectral variability in two epochs of Q 2237+0305, and differential absorption between images in QJ 0158-4325 and Q2237+0305. We also detect the Fe Kα emission line in all six lenses, and the Ni XXVII Kα line in two images of Q 2237+0305. The rest-frame equivalent widths of the Fe Kα lines are measured to be 0.4-1.2 keV, significantly higher than those measured in typical active galactic nuclei of similar X-ray luminosities. This suggests that the Fe Kα emission region is more compact or centrally concentrated than the continuum emission region.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- August 2012
- DOI:
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1202.5304
- Bibcode:
- 2012ApJ...755...24C
- Keywords:
-
- accretion;
- accretion disks;
- black hole physics;
- gravitational lensing: micro;
- quasars: individual: QJ0158–4325 HE0435–1223 HE1104–1805 SDSS0924+0219 SDSS1004+4112 Q2237+0305;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena;
- Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 55 pages, 22 figures