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Understanding micro-image configurations in quasar microlensing

Saha, Prasenjit ; Williams, Liliya L. R.

In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2011, vol. 411, no. 3, p. 1671-1677

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    Titre
    • Understanding micro-image configurations in quasar microlensing
    Auteur
    • Saha, Prasenjit. Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Zürich, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland
    • Williams, Liliya L. R.. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, 116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
    Type de document
    • Postprint
    Langue
    • Anglais
    Publié dans
    • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2011, vol. 411, no. 3, p. 1671-1677. Blackwell Publishing Ltd
    Autre version électronique
    Identifiant OAI-PMH
    • oai:doc.rero.ch:290148
    Summary
    The micro-arcsecond scale structure of the seemingly point-like images in lensed quasars, though unobservable, is nevertheless much studied theoretically, because it affects the observable (or macro) brightness, and through that provides clues to substructure in both source and lens. A curious feature is that, while an observable macro-image is made up of a very large number of micro-images, the macro flux is dominated by a few micro-images. Micro minima play a key role, and the well-known broad distribution of macro magnification can be decomposed into narrower distributions with 0, 1, 2, 3, ... micro minima. This paper shows how the dominant micro-images exist alongside the others, using the ideas of Fermat's principle and arrival-time surfaces, alongside simulations