X-Ray Microlensing of Bright Quasars

Shin Mineshige, Atsunori Yonehara, Rohta Takahashi, PASA, 18 (2), in press.
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Contents Page: Volume 18, Number 2

X-Ray Microlensing of Bright Quasars

Shin Mineshige1, Atsunori Yonehara1,2, Rohta Takahashi1

1 Department of Astronomy, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
E-mail: minesige@kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp
2 Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

Abstract:

We calculate the expected microlens light curves to see what aspects of flow structures can be extracted by microlensing. We specifically pick up a disk-corona model proposed by Kawaguchi et al. as a model for bright quasars. We then expect distinct behavior in the soft and hard X-ray microlens variations. Since soft X-ray is produced by Compton up-scattering of soft (optical - UV) photons from the innermost part of the disk, while hard X-ray radiation is via bremsstrahlung within the corona of a large volume, the model calculations predict more rapid soft X-ray changes than hard X-ray ones. Further, bright spots (or blobs) on the disk will produce humps in the microlens light curves. Future microlens observations will constrain such emission processes, thereby probing accretion flow structure.

Keywords: accretion, accretion disks -- black hole physics -- galaxies: active -- quasar





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