2002/07/11 by V. N. Shalyapin, L. J. Goicoechea, D. Alcalde +5 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Accretion (finance) #Accretion disc #Adaptive optics and wavefront sensing #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Gravitation #Gravitational lens #Gravitational microlensing #Light curve #Physics #Quasar #Redshift #Supermassive black hole #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/342753
published as Astrophys.J. 579 (2002) 127-135 · ApJ, in press (LaTeX, 28 pages, 6 eps figures)
arxiv created 2002/07/11 · openalex publication_date 2002/10/24 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
From the peak of a gravitational microlensing high-magnification event in the A component of QSO 2237+0305, which was accurately monitored by the Gravitational Lenses International Time Project collaboration, we derived new information on the nature and size of the optical V -band and R -band sources in the distant quasar. If the microlensing peak is caused by a microcaustic crossing, we first obtain that the standard accretion disk is a scenario more reliable/feasible than other typical axially symmetric models. Moreover, the standard scenario fits both the V -band and R -band observations with reduced χ 2 values very close to 1. Taking into account all these results, a standard accretion disk around a supermassive black hole is a good candidate for the optical continuum main source in QSO 2237+0305. Second, using the standard source model and a robust upper limit on the transverse galactic velocity, we infer that 90% of the V -band and R -band luminosities are emitted from a region with a radial size less than 1.2 × 10 -2 pc (=3.7 × 10 16 cm, at a 2 σ confidence level).