Due to the finite size of the disk and the temperature fluctuations producing the variability, microlensing changes the actual time delays between images of strongly lensed AGN on the $\sim$day(s) light-crossing time scale of the emission region. This microlensing-induced time delay depends on the disk model, primarily the disk size $R_\mathrm{disk}$ which has been found to be larger than predicted by the thin-disk model. In this work, we propose that light curves measured in different bands will give different time delays since $R_\mathrm{disk}$ is a function of wavelength, and by measuring the time delay differences between bands, one can 1) directly verify such an new effect; 2) test the thin-disk model of quasars. For the second goal, our method can avoid the potential inconsistency between multi-band light curves that may bias the results by continuum reverberation mapping. We conduct a simulation based on a PG 1115+080-like lensed quasar, calculating the theoretical distributions of time delay differences between two bands: u and i centered around 354nm and 780nm, under and beyond the thin-disk model, respectively. Assuming the disk size is twice larger than the standard one, we find that with a precision of 2 days in the time delay difference measurements, the microlensing time delay effect can be verified with $\sim4$ measurements while with $\sim35$ measurements the standard model can be excluded. This approach could be realized in the ongoing and upcoming multi-band wide-field surveys with follow-up observations.
We use spectra of the double lensed quasars HE0047-1756 and SDSS1155+6346 to study their unresolved structure through the impact of microlensing. There is no significant evidence of microlensing in the emission line profiles except for the Ly$α$ line of SDSS1155+6346, which shows strong differences in the shapes for images A and B. However, the continuum of the B image spectrum in SDSS1155+6346 is strongly contaminated by the lens galaxy and these differences should be considered with caution. Using the flux ratios of the emission lines for image pairs as a baseline to remove macro-magnificati…
Time-delay strong lensing provides a unique way to directly measure the Hubble constant ($H_{0}$). The precision of the $H_{0}$ measurement depends on the uncertainties in the time-delay measurements, the mass distribution of the main deflector(s), and the mass distribution along the line of sight. Tie and Kochanek (2018) have proposed a new microlensing effect on time delays based on differential magnification of the coherent accretion disc variability of the lensed quasar. If real, this effect could significantly broaden the uncertainty on the time delay measurements by up to $30\%$ for lens…
Microlensing not only brings extra magnification lightcurves on top of the intrinsic ones but also shifts them in time domain, making the actual time-delays between images of strongly lensed active galactic nucleus change on the $\sim$ day(s) light-crossing time scale of the emission region. The microlensing-induced time-delays would bias strong lens time-delay cosmography if uncounted. However, due to the uncertainties of the disk size and the disk model, the impact is hard to accurately estimate. In this work, we study how to reduce the bias with designed observation strategy based on a stan…
Time-delay cosmography in strongly lensed quasars offer an independent way of measuring the Hubble constant, $H_0$. However, it has been proposed that the combination of microlensing and source-size effects, also known as microlensing time delay can potentially increase the uncertainty in time-delay measurements as well as lead to a biased time delay. In this work, we first investigate how microlensing time delay changes with assumptions on the initial mass function (IMF) and find that the more massive microlenses produce the sharper distributions of microlensing time delays. We also find that…
The time delays of gravitationally lensed quasars are generally believed to be unique numbers whose measurement is limited only by the quality of the light curves and the models for the contaminating contribution of gravitational microlensing to the light curves. This belief is incorrect -- gravitational microlensing also produces changes in the actual time delays on the ~day(s) light-crossing time scale of the emission region. This is due to a combination of the inclination of the disk relative to the line of sight and the differential magnification of the temperature fluctuations producing t…
We spectroscopically re-observed the gravitational lens system SDSS J1339+1310 using OSIRIS on the GTC. We also monitored the $r$-band variability of the two quasar images (A and B) with the LT over 143 epochs in the period 2009$-$2016. These new data in both the wavelength and time domains have confirmed that the system is an unusual microlensing factory. The C$\scriptsize{\rm{IV}}$ emission line is remarkably microlensed, since the microlensing magnification of B relative to that for A, $μ_{\rm{BA}}$, reaches a value of 1.4 ($\sim$ 0.4 mag) for its core. Moreover, the B image shows a red win…
Owing to the advent of large area photometric surveys, the possibility to use broad band photometric data, instead of spectra, to measure the size of the broad line region of active galactic nuclei, has raised a large interest. We describe here a new method using time-delay lensed quasars where one or several images are affected by microlensing due to stars in the lensing galaxy. Because microlensing decreases (or increases) the flux of the continuum compared to the broad line region, it changes the contrast between these two emission components. We show that this effect can be used to effecti…
We present V and R photometry of the gravitationally lensed quasars WFI2033-4723 and HE0047-1756. The data were taken by the MiNDSTEp collaboration with the 1.54 m Danish telescope at the ESO La Silla observatory from 2008 to 2012. Differential photometry has been carried out using the image subtraction method as implemented in the HOTPAnTS package, additionally using GALFIT for quasar photometry. The quasar WFI2033-4723 showed brightness variations of order 0.5 mag in V and R during the campaign. The two lensed components of quasar HE0047-1756 varied by 0.2-0.3 mag within five years. We provi…
We present estimates for the size and the logarithmic slope of the disk temperature profile of the lensed quasar Q2237+0305, independent of the component velocities. These estimates are based on six epochs of multi-wavelength narrowband images from the Nordic Optical Telescope. For each pair of lensed images and each photometric band, we determine the microlensing amplitude and chromaticity using pre-existing mid-IR photometry to define the baseline for no microlensing magnification. A statistical comparison of the combined microlensing data (6 epochs $\times$ 5 narrow bands $\times$ 6 image p…
In this paper, we investigate the influence of the plasma surrounding the gravitational lens on the effect of microlensing. In presence of plasma around the lens, the deflection angle is determined by both the gravitational field of the lens and the chromatic refraction in the inhomogeneous plasma. We calculate microlensing light curves numerically for point-mass lens surrounded by power-law density distribution of plasma. A variety of possible curves is revealed, depending on the plasma density and frequency of observations. In the case of significant influence of plasma, the shape of microle…
We present an $r$--band photometric monitoring of the two images A and B of the gravitationally lensed quasar SDSS J1442+4055 using the Liverpool Telescope (LT). From the LT light curves between 2015 December and 2018 August, we derive at once a time delay of 25.0 $\pm$ 1.5 days (1$σ$ confidence interval; A is leading) and microlensing magnification gradients below 10$^{-4}$ mag day$^{-1}$. The delay interval is not expected to be affected by an appreciable microlensing--induced bias, so it can be used to estimate cosmological parameters. This paper also focuses on new Gran Telescopio Canarias…
Time-delay and lens galaxy redshift in the doubly imaged quasar PS J2305+3714
Ulugh Beg Astronomical Institute（乌鲁伯格天文研究所）；Universidad de Cantabria（坎塔布里亚大学）；O.Ya. Usikov Institute for Radiophysics and Electronics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine（乌克兰国家科学院 O.Ya. 乌西科夫无线电物理与电子研究所）；Institute of Astronomy, Kharkiv V.N. Karazin National University（哈尔科夫 V.N. 卡拉津国立大学天文学研究所）；Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur（蔚蓝海岸天文台）；Institute of Radio Astronomy, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine（乌克兰国家科学院无线电物理研究所）；Chirchik State Pedagogical University（奇尔奇克国立师范学院）；National University of Uzbekistan（乌兹别克斯坦国立大学）；ICC-UB Institut de Ciéncies del Cosmos, University of Barcelona（巴塞罗那宇宙科学研究所 (ICCUB)）
We present new light curves for the four bright images of the five image cluster-lensed quasar gravitational lens system SDSS~J1004+4112. The light curves span 14.5 yr and allow measurement of the time delay between the trailing bright quasar image D and the leading image C. When we fit all four light curves simultaneously and combine the models using the Bayes information criterion, we find a time delay of $Δt_{DC}= 2458.47 \pm 1.02$ days (6.73 yr), the longest ever measured for a gravitational lens. For the other two independent time delays we obtain $Δt_{BC}=782.20 \pm 0.43$ days (2.14 yr) …
We present 13 seasons of $R$-band photometry of the quadruply-lensed quasar WFI 2033-4723 from the 1.3m SMARTS telescope at CTIO and the 1.2m Euler Swiss Telescope at La Silla, in which we detect microlensing variability of $\sim0.2$ mags on a timescale of $\sim$6 years. Using a Bayesian Monte Carlo technique, we analyze the microlensing signal to obtain a measurement of the size of this system's accretion disk of $\log (r_s/{\rm cm}) = 15.86^{+0.25}_{-0.27}$ at $λ_{rest} = 2481{\rm Å}$, assuming a $60^\circ$ inclination angle. We confirm previous measurements of the BC and AB time delays, and…
We present eight monitoring seasons of the four brightest images of the gravitational lens SDSS J1004+4112 observed between December 2003 and October 2010. Using measured time delays for the images A, B and C and the model predicted time delay for image D we have removed the intrinsic quasar variability, finding microlensing events of about 0.5 and 0.7 mag of amplitude in the images C and D. From the statistics of microlensing amplitudes in images A, C, and D, we have inferred the half-light radius (at λ rest = 2407 Å) for the accretion disk using two different methods, $R_{1/2}=8.7^{+18.5}_{-…
SN 2022riv in RX J2129: Discovery, Spectroscopic Classification, and Microlensing of a Strongly Lensed Type Ia Supernova from JWST and HST Observations
University of Minnesota（明尼苏达大学）；Oklahoma State University（俄克拉荷马州立大学）；Space Telescope Science Institute（太空望远镜科学研究所）；Chiba University（千叶大学）；Instituto de Física de Cantabria（坎塔布里亚物理研究所）
Gravitational microlensing within the Galaxy offers the prospect of probing the details of distant stellar sources, as well as revealing the distribution of compact (and potentially non-luminous) masses along the line-of-sight. Recently, it has been suggested that additional constraints on the lensing properties can be determined through the measurement of the time delay between images through the correlation of the bunching of photon arrival times; an application of the Hanbury-Brown Twiss effect. In this paper, we revisit this analysis, examining the impact of decoherence of the radiation fr…
We use single-epoch spectroscopy of three gravitationally lensed quasars, HE0435-1223, WFI2033-4723, and HE2149-2745, to study their inner structure (BLR and continuum source). We detect microlensing-induced magnification in the wings of the broad emission lines of two of the systems (HE0435-1223 and WFI2033-4723). In the case of WFI2033-4723, microlensing affects two "bumps" in the spectra which are almost symmetrically arranged on the blue (coincident with an AlIII emission line) and red wings of CIII]. These match the typical double-peaked profile that follows from disk kinematics. The pres…
We present a measurement of the accretion disk size of the quadruple lensed quasar HE 0435-1223 from well-sampled 13-yr COSMOGRAIL optical light curves. Using accurate time delays for the images A, B, C, and D, we modeled and removed the intrinsic quasar variability, and found microlensing events of amplitude up to 0.6, 0.4, and 0.5 mag in the images A, C and D respectively. From the statistics of microlensing magnifications in these images we use Bayesian methods to estimate the size of the quasar accretion disk. We have inferred the half-light radius for the accretion disk using two differen…
Measuring gravitational lensing time delays with quantum information processing
Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, NIST/University of Maryland（量子信息与计算机联合中心，美国国家标准与技术研究院/马里兰大学）；Department of Computer Science, University of Maryland（马里兰大学计算机科学系）；Maryland Center for Fundamental Physics, University of Maryland（马里兰基础物理中心，马里兰大学）；Department of Physics & Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University（约翰斯·霍普金斯大学物理与天文学系）；Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of British Columbia（不列颠哥伦比亚大学物理与天文学系）；Joint Quantum Institute, NIST/University of Maryland（量子联合研究所，美国国家标准与技术研究院/马里兰大学）；Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院物理系）；Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, University of Maryland（马里兰大学高级计算机研究所）
We analyse new optical observations of the gravitational lens system SDSS J1515+1511. These include a 2.6-year photometric monitoring with the Liverpool Telescope (LT) in the $r$ band, as well as a spectroscopic follow-up with the LT and the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). Our $r$-band LT light curves cover a quiescent microlensing period of the doubly imaged quasar at $z_{\rm s}$ = 2.049, which permits us to robustly estimate the time delay between the two images A and B: 211 $\pm$ 5 days (1$σ$ confidence interval; A is leading). Unfortunately, the main lensing galaxy (G1) is so faint and clo…
We present an analysis of two seasons of archival, multi-frequency VLA monitoring of the quad lens system JVAS B1422+231, the 15-GHz data of which have previously been published. The 8.4- and 15-GHz variability curves show significant variability, especially in polarization, but lack features on short time-scales that would be necessary for an accurate measurement of the very short predicted time delays ($\le$1 d) between the three bright images. Time delays can only realistically be measured to the very faint image D and for the first time we detect its long-term variability and determine its…
Rapid intrinsic variability has been detected for the first time in the Einstein Cross QSO 2237+0305, a radio quiet flat spectrum quasar at z=1.7 that is quadruply lensed by a foreground galaxy at z=0.04. The observed short-period event at the time scale of several days and with amplitudes of about 0.1-0.2 mag can be traced in the light curves of the 2004 observing season for all macroimages and in all the three filters (V, R and I). The accuracy of the existing estimates of the time delays in Q2237+0305 is insufficient to either confirm or disprove the estimations of time delays based on the …
Gravitational lensing of gravitational waves by galaxy clusters
Tsinghua University（清华大学）；Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)（马克斯·普朗克引力物理研究所（爱因斯坦研究所））；Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院紫金山天文台）；Westlake University（西湖大学）
We present an analysis of archival multi-frequency Very Large Array monitoring data of the two-image gravitational lens system CLASS B1600+434, including the polarization properties at 8.5 GHz. From simulating radio light curves incorporating realistic external variability in image A, we find time delays consistent at 1 $σ$ for all frequencies and in total flux density and polarization. The delay with the smallest uncertainty (total flux density at 8.5 GHz) is $42.3^{+2.0}_{-1.8}$ (random) $\pm 0.5$ (systematic) d (equivalent to $42.3 \pm 2.1$ d) whereas combining all delay estimates gives a s…
LensWatch. II. Improved Photometry and Time-delay Constraints on the Strongly Lensed Type Ia Supernova 2022qmx ("SN Zwicky") with HST Template Observations
We present time-delay measurements for the new quadruply imaged quasar DES J0408-5354, the first quadruply imaged quasar found in the Dark Energy Survey (DES). Our result is made possible by implementing a new observational strategy using almost daily observations with the MPIA 2.2m telescope at La Silla observatory and deep exposures reaching a signal-to-noise ratio of about 1000 per quasar image. This data quality allows us to catch small photometric variations (a few mmag rms) of the quasar, acting on temporal scales much shorter than microlensing, hence making the time delay measurement ve…
Microcaustics: Fast GPU-Accelerated Dynamical Microlensing of Time-Dependent Extended Sources
Stony Brook University（石溪大学）；The Graduate Center of the City University of New York（纽约市立大学研究生中心）；American Museum of Natural History（美国自然历史博物馆）；Lehman College of the CUNY（纽约市立大学莱曼学院）；Dunlap Institute, University of Toronto（多伦多大学邓普研究所）；Canadian Data Intensive Astrophysics PLatform (CanDIAPL)（加拿大数据密集型天体物理平台（CanDIAPL））；Ciela - Montreal Institute for Astrophysical Data Analysis and Machine Learning（Ciela-蒙特利尔天体物理数据分析与机器学习研究所）；Université de Montréal（蒙特利尔大学）；Mila - Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute（Mila-魁北克人工智能研究所）
We aim to use signatures of microlensing induced by stars in the foreground lens galaxy to infer the size of the accretion disk in the gravitationally lensed quasar Q 0957+561. The long-term photometric monitoring of this system (which so far has provided the longest available light curves of a gravitational lens system) permits us to evaluate the impact of uncertainties on our recently developed method (controlled by the distance between the modeled and the experimental magnitude difference histograms between two lensed images), and thus to test the robustness of microlensing-based disk-size …
We present a new method of modelling time-series data based on the running optimal average (ROA). By identifying the effective number of parameters for the ROA model, in terms of the shape and width of its window function and the times and accuracies of the data, we enable a Bayesian analysis, optimising the ROA width, along with other model parameters, by minimising the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) and sampling joint posterior parameter distributions using MCMC methods. For analysis of quasar lightcurves, our implementation of ROA modelling can measure time delays among lightcurves at…
