2007/01/01 by C. A. Hales, Christopher A. Hales, Geraint F. Lewis · 8 citations
Environmental Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Brightness #Flux (metallurgy) #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Gravitational microlensing #Observable #Optics #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Quasar #Remote Sensing in Agriculture #Scattering #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1071/as07002
published in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia 24(1), 30-40 (Cambridge University Press) · 13 pages - accepted for publication in PASA. Quality of figures reduced
openalex publication_date 2007/01/01 · arxiv created 2007/03/13 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Abstract While amongst the most luminous objects in the universe, many details regarding the inner structure of quasars remain unknown. One such area is the mechanism promoting increased polarisation in the broad absorption line troughs of certain quasars. This study shows how microlensing can be used to differentiate between two popular models that explain such polarisation through a realistic computational analysis. By examining a statistical ensemble of correlation data between two observables (namely image brightness and polarisation of the flux coming from the quasar), it was found that through spectropolarimetric monitoring it would be possible to discern between a model with an external scattering region and a model without one.