Mirages in the Universe

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Mirages in the Universe INTERNATIONAL SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE SPATIUM Published by the Association Pro ISSI No. 32, November 2013 Editorial When it comes to astrophysics, one blur reality, they have evolved in Impressum can’t go past Albert Einstein. His the hands of astrophysicists into a overwhelming intellectual author- powerful tool to detect the pres- ity endowed science with a series ence and distribution of dark of landmarks, of which the Gen- matter or to estimate the age of eral Theory of Relativity perhaps the Universe, just to name two SPATIUM stands out most. Upon publishing notable examples. Published by the the Special Theory of Relativity in Association Pro ISSI 1905 he embarked on an eight-year All those exciting topics made up search for a relativistic theory of the milestones of the talk on gravity. After numerous detours Mirages in the Universe by Profes- and false starts, his work culmi- sor Georges Meylan, Director of nated in the presentation to the the Laboratory of Astrophysics, Association Pro ISSI Prussian Academy of Science in École Polytechnique Fédérale de Hallerstrasse 6, CH-3012 Bern November 1915 of what are now Lausanne for the Pro ISSI audience Phone +41 (0)31 631 48 96 known as the Einstein field equa- on 22 March 2012. It is with great see tions. These equations specify how pleasure that we publish herewith www.issibern.ch/pro-issi.html the geometry of space and time is an issue of Spatium entirely de- for the whole Spatium series ruled by matter and gravity, and voted to one of astronomy’s most form the core of his General The- intriguing aspects, the mirages in President ory of Relativity. the Universe. Prof. Nicolas Thomas, University of Bern Even though the theory is clearly Hansjörg Schlaepfer superior to Newtonian gravity, Brissago, November 2013 Layout and Publisher General Relativity remained some- Dr. Hansjörg Schlaepfer thing of a curiosity among physi- CH-6614 Brissago cal theories for several decades. This didn’t change even when the Printing deflection of starlight by the Sun, Stämpfli Publikationen AG as predicted by General Relativity, CH-3001 Bern was observed by Sir Arthur Stan- ley Eddington on an expedition during the total solar eclipse of 29 May 1919: Einstein became in- stantly famous, while his theory re- mained a Sleeping Beauty. This did change, however, in the 1960’s and 1970’s when ever more precise solar system tests confirmed its predictive power. One of the theory’s most popular forecasts re- fers to gravitational lensing, the effect observed by Eddington in 1919. Even though gravitational lenses tend to create mirages that SPATIUM 32 2 Mirages in the Universe1 by Prof. Georges Meylan, Laboratory of Astrophysics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Introduction Mirages in the Universe? Well, we have heard about mirages on Earth, such as the Fata Morgana, the flickering apparitions in the hot desert. But mirages in the Uni- verse? Do such elusory features ex- Fig. 1 (left): The Moon setting in Fig. 2 (right): The image of the set- ist in space too, and if this is the Casco Bay in Maine. The Moon’s shape ting Sun is perturbed in a similar way. is disturbed near the horizon as a con- This image displays even the elusive case, how do they form, and fur- sequence of refraction effects by the green flash at the top of the solar disk. ther: are they more than just an Earth’s atmosphere. The image of a (Credit: Karina Hamalainen) exotic oddity amusing astro - second Moon rises slowly towards the physicists? first, both eventually merging during setting. (Credit: John Stetson). The answer is yes, of course, and the present issue of Spatium aims age of a second Sun or Moon even- duced by the presence of huge ag- at providing our readers with an tually merging with the first during gregations of mass. What makes insight into this fascinating field of setting. This may lead to the fancy them most valuable for scientists is astronomy. In the framework of Etruscan Vase moonset as shown in the fact that not only the mass of his General Relativity Theory in Fig. 1 and the colourful sunset of visible matter, but also that of in- the mid-1910’s Albert Einstein2 Fig.. 2 visible dark matter gives rise to postulated the existence of mirages mirages. Hence, mirages help open long before they were actually ob- In the Universe, other effects give the window towards the dark served. Today, scientists do not rise to mirages. Here, it is the cur- Universe. only enjoy their beauty but also vature of space-time, a phenome- have learned to exploit their scien- non described first by Albert Ein- Fig. 3: The Horseshoe Einstein ring. tific potential as a powerful tool to stein, that distorts our vision. This The gravity of the luminous yellow galaxy in the foreground has distorted observe the Universe. First, let us may take such fascinating forms as the light coming from a much more dis- contemplate some mirages we are the famous Einstein ring of which tant blue galaxy. In this case, the align- all familiar with. an example is shown in Fig.. 3 The ment is so precise that the background amazing blue ring is not a real galaxy is imaged as a nearly perfect ring or a horseshoe. As such lensing effects On Earth, mirages may appear physical entity in space, but rather were predicted by Albert Einstein, rings when light is bent by layers of air the image of one single object be- like this are now known as Einstein with different temperatures over hind the yellow galaxy in the fore- Rings. (Credit: NASA/ESA) land or over the sea. Light propa- ground. Its enormous mass causes gates in air with a speed that de- the light rays from the blue back- pends on the air density and hence ground object to be bent in such a its temperature. Warm air imme- way as to form a regular, nearly diately above the ocean or the perfect ring around the galaxy. terrain may cause the Sun or Moon’s rays to be mirrored up- We conclude that mirages exist in wards producing the inverted im- the Universe and that they are in- 1 The present issue of Spatium reports on the lecture given by Prof. Meylan for the Pro ISSI Association on 22 March 2012. The notes were taken by Dr. Hansjörg Schlaepfer. 2 Albert Einstein, 1879, Ulm – 1955, Princeton, New Jersey, Swiss-US physicist, Nobel prize laureate in physics, 1922. SPATIUM 32 3 Stars come also in entire families The Mechanism as in the case of the cluster of stars of Mirages of the Pleiades that contain a few thousand stars, Fig. 5. As this is a young cluster of stars, there is still much remaining gas in between. Let us now come to the facts that help us to understand the physical Other stars come in entire globu- processes that create mirages in the lar clusters that contain not a few Universe and to appreciate their thousand but rather a few million value for astrophysicists. To this Fig. 4: Beta Albireo. The two bright stars, such as Omega Centauri, end, we begin with enumerating stars of Albireo in the Constellation of Fig. 6. the Swan (Cygnus) are some 380 light- the forms and types of matter in years away. It is the fifth brightest star the Universe. system in the sky and easily visible to Much visible matter in the Uni- the unaided eye. They circle around verse is also contained in dust and each other in about 75,000 years. gas in large picturesque structures, (Credit: Giuseppe Donatiello) Matter in Space such as for instance the Orion neb- ula, Fig. 7 on the opposite page. From our everyday experience, we axies. A good example of a star is know what astrophysicists call (or- of course our Sun, but also Beta Fig. 7: The Great Orion Nebula is an immense, nearby star-birth region, lo- dinary) baryonic matter. It consti- Albireo in the constellation of cated in the same spiral arm of our tutes the visible performers of the Cygnus, see Fig.. 4 It is actually a Galaxy as the Sun. The various colours theatre of the Universe. Those are double star where the two partners highlight the emission of different gases. the stars with their planets, clusters have different temperatures and The nebula contains many stellar nurseries where gas and dust are cur- of stars, galaxies with a lot of gas hence different colours in the rently forming hot young stars3. (Credit: and dust and entire clusters of gal- visible. NASA/ESA) Fig. 5: The Pleiades can be seen with the naked eye in the Fig. 6: Omega Centauri: the globular star cluster NGC 5139 Orion Constellation. It is one of the brightest clusters in the is over 10 billion years old. It holds nearly than ten million sky counting over 3,000 stars. Huge clouds of dust and gas stars in a sphere some 150 light-years in diameter. (Credit: surround the stars constituting the raw material that eventu- ESA/NASA) ally will build up new stars. (Credit: NASA/ESA) 3 See Spatium no. 6: From Dust to Planets by Willy Benz, October 2000. SPATIUM 32 4 Then, we have galaxies of all types: came aware of this problem and Fig. 9: Andromeda: Our nearest mixed forms like the stunning was among the first to stipulate the large galactic neighbour. Two ESA 5 observatories have combined forces to Sombrero M104 (Fig. 8) or beauti- existence of dark matter , a strange show the Andromeda Galaxy in a new ful spiral galaxies, like Andromeda form of matter that cannot be seen light.
Recommended publications
  • A Rapidly Spinning Black Hole Powers the Einstein Cross
    The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 792:L19 (5pp), 2014 September 1 doi:10.1088/2041-8205/792/1/L19 C 2014. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. A RAPIDLY SPINNING BLACK HOLE POWERS THE EINSTEIN CROSS Mark T. Reynolds1, Dominic J. Walton2, Jon M. Miller1, and Rubens C. Reis1 1 Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, 311 West Hall, 1085 South University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; [email protected] 2 Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA Received 2014 July 22; accepted 2014 August 7; published 2014 August 20 ABSTRACT Observations over the past 20 yr have revealed a strong relationship between the properties of the supermassive black hole lying at the center of a galaxy and the host galaxy itself. The magnitude of the spin of the black hole will play a key role in determining the nature of this relationship. To date, direct estimates of black hole spin have been restricted to the local universe. Herein, we present the results of an analysis of ∼0.5 Ms of archival Chandra observations of the gravitationally lensed quasar Q 2237+305 (aka the “Einstein-cross”), lying at a redshift of z = 1.695. The boost in flux provided by the gravitational lens allows constraints to be placed on the spin of a black hole at such high redshift for the first time. Utilizing state of the art relativistic disk reflection models, the black = +0.06 hole is found to have a spin of a∗ 0.74−0.03 at the 90% confidence level.
    [Show full text]
  • Set 4: Active Galaxies
    Set 4: Active Galaxies Phenomenology • History: Seyfert in the 1920’s reported that a small fraction (few tenths of a percent) of galaxies have bright nuclei with broad emission lines. 90% are in spiral galaxies • Seyfert galaxies categorized as 1 if emission lines of HI, HeI and HeII are very broad - Doppler broadening of 1000-5000 km/s and narrower forbidden lines of ∼ 500km/s. Variable. Seyfert 2 if all lines are ∼ 500km/s. Not variable. • Both show a featureless continuum, for Seyfert 1 often more luminous than the whole galaxy • Seyferts are part of a class of galaxies with active galactic nuclei (AGN) • Radio galaxies mainly found in ellipticals - also broad and narrow line - extremely bright in the radio - often with extended lobes connected to center by jets of ∼ 50kpc in extent Radio Galaxy 3C31, NGC 383 Phenomenology • Quasars discovered in 1960 by Matthews and Sandage are extremely distant, quasi-starlike, with broad emission lines. Faint fuzzy halo reveals the parent galaxy of extremely luminous object 38−41 11−14 - visible luminosity L ∼ 10 W or ∼ 10 L • Quasars can be both radio loud (QSR) and quiet (QSO) • Blazars (BL Lac) highly variable AGN with high degree of polarization, mostly in ellipticals • ULIRGs - ultra luminous infrared galaxies - possibly dust enshrouded AGN (alternately may be starburst) • LINERS - similar to Seyfert 2 but low ionization nuclear emission line region - low luminosity AGN with strong emission lines of low ionization species Spectrum . • AGN share a basic general form for their continuum emission • Flat broken power law continuum - specific flux −α Fν / ν .
    [Show full text]
  • Constellation Queries Over Big Data
    Constellation Queries over Big Data Fabio Porto Amir Khatibi Joao Guilherme Nobre LNCC UFMG LNCC DEXL Lab Brazil DEXL Lab Petropolis, Brazil [email protected] Petropolis, Brazil [email protected] [email protected] Eduardo Ogasawara Patrick Valduriez Dennis Shasha CEFET-RJ INRIA New York University Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Montpellier, France New York, USA [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT The availability of large datasets in science, web and mobile A geometrical pattern is a set of points with all pairwise dis- applications enables new interpretations of natural phenom- tances (or, more generally, relative distances) specified. Find- ena and human behavior. ing matches to such patterns has applications to spatial data in Consider the following two use cases: seismic, astronomical, and transportation contexts. For exam- Scenario 1. An astronomy catalog is a table holding bil- ple, a particularly interesting geometric pattern in astronomy lions of sky objects from a region of the sky, captured by tele- is the Einstein cross, which is an astronomical phenomenon scopes. An astronomer may be interested in identifying the in which a single quasar is observed as four distinct sky ob- effects of gravitational lensing in quasars, as predicted by Ein- jects (due to gravitational lensing) when captured by earth stein’s General Theory of Relativity [2]. According to this the- telescopes. Finding such crosses, as well as other geometric ory, massive objects like galaxies bend light rays that travel patterns, is a challenging problem as the potential number of near them just as a glass lens does.
    [Show full text]
  • 12 Strong Gravitational Lenses
    12 Strong Gravitational Lenses Phil Marshall, MaruˇsaBradaˇc,George Chartas, Gregory Dobler, Ard´ısEl´ıasd´ottir,´ Emilio Falco, Chris Fassnacht, James Jee, Charles Keeton, Masamune Oguri, Anthony Tyson LSST will contain more strong gravitational lensing events than any other survey preceding it, and will monitor them all at a cadence of a few days to a few weeks. Concurrent space-based optical or perhaps ground-based surveys may provide higher resolution imaging: the biggest advances in strong lensing science made with LSST will be in those areas that benefit most from the large volume and the high accuracy, multi-filter time series. In this chapter we propose an array of science projects that fit this bill. We first provide a brief introduction to the basic physics of gravitational lensing, focusing on the formation of multiple images: the strong lensing regime. Further description of lensing phenomena will be provided as they arise throughout the chapter. We then make some predictions for the properties of samples of lenses of various kinds we can expect to discover with LSST: their numbers and distributions in redshift, image separation, and so on. This is important, since the principal step forward provided by LSST will be one of lens sample size, and the extent to which new lensing science projects will be enabled depends very much on the samples generated. From § 12.3 onwards we introduce the proposed LSST science projects. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but should serve as a good starting point for investigators looking to exploit the strong lensing phenomenon with LSST.
    [Show full text]
  • Multiple Images of a Highly Magnified Supernova Formed
    Multiple Images of a Highly Magnified Supernova Formed by an Early-Type Cluster Galaxy Lens Patrick L. Kelly1∗, Steven A. Rodney2, Tommaso Treu3, Ryan J. Foley4, Gabriel Brammer5, Kasper B. Schmidt6, Adi Zitrin7, Alessandro Sonnenfeld3, Louis-Gregory Strolger5,8, Or Graur9, Alexei V. Filippenko1, Saurabh W. Jha10, Adam G. Riess2,5, Marusa Bradac11, Benjamin J. Weiner12, Daniel Scolnic2, Matthew A. Malkan3, Anja von der Linden13, Michele Trenti14, Jens Hjorth13, Raphael Gavazzi15, Adriano Fontana16, Julian Merten7, Curtis McCully6, Tucker Jones6, Marc Postman5, Alan Dressler17, Brandon Patel10, S. Bradley Cenko18, Melissa L. Graham1, and Bradley E. Tucker1 1Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 2Department of Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218 3Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095 4University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1002 W. Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801 5Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 6Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106 7California Institute of Technology, MC 249-17, Pasadena, CA 91125 8Western Kentucky University, 1906 College Heights Blvd., Bowling Green, KY 42101 9CCPP, New York University, 4 Washington Place, New York, NY 10003 10Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854 11Department of Physics, University of California, Davis, CA 95616 12Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 arXiv:1411.6009v1 [astro-ph.CO] 21 Nov 2014 13Dark Cosmology Centre, Juliane Maries Vej 30, 2100 Copenhagen, Demark 14School of Physics, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia 15Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, 98 bis Boulevard Arago, F-75014 Paris, France 16INAF-OAR, Via Frascati 33, 00040 Monte Porzio - Rome, Italy 17Carnegie Observatories, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101 18NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 662, Greenbelt, MD 20771 ∗To whom correspondence should be addressed; E-mail: [email protected].
    [Show full text]
  • UC Davis UC Davis Previously Published Works
    UC Davis UC Davis Previously Published Works Title Multiple images of a highly magnified supernova formed by an early-type cluster galaxy lens Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3d5712fq Journal Science, 347(6226) ISSN 0036-8075 Authors Kelly, PL Rodney, SA Treu, T et al. Publication Date 2015-03-06 DOI 10.1126/science.aaa3350 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Multiple Images of a Highly Magnified Supernova Formed by an Early-Type Cluster Galaxy Lens∗ Patrick L. Kelly1∗, Steven A. Rodney2, Tommaso Treu3, Ryan J. Foley4, Gabriel Brammer5, Kasper B. Schmidt6, Adi Zitrin7, Alessandro Sonnenfeld3, Louis-Gregory Strolger5,8, Or Graur9, Alexei V. Filippenko1, Saurabh W. Jha10, Adam G. Riess2,5, Marusa Bradac11, Benjamin J. Weiner12, Daniel Scolnic2, Matthew A. Malkan3, Anja von der Linden13, Michele Trenti14, Jens Hjorth13, Raphael Gavazzi15, Adriano Fontana16, Julian Merten7, Curtis McCully6, Tucker Jones6, Marc Postman5, Alan Dressler17, Brandon Patel10, S. Bradley Cenko18, Melissa L. Graham1, and Bradley E. Tucker1 1Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 2Department of Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218 3Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095 4University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1002 W. Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801 5Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 6Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
    [Show full text]
  • An X-Ray Study of Gravitational Lenses
    The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics AN X-RAY STUDY OF GRAVITATIONAL LENSES A Thesis in Astronomy and Astrophysics by Xinyu Dai c 2004 Xinyu Dai Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2004 The thesis of Xinyu Dai was reviewed and approved* by the following: Gordon P. Garmire Evan Pugh Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics Thesis Co-Adviser Co-Chair of Committee George Chartas Sr. Research Associate of Astronomy and Astrophysics Thesis Co-Adviser Co-Chair of Committee Michael Eracleous Associate Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics Robin Ciardullo Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics L. Samuel Finn Professor of Physics Lawrence W. Ramsey Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics Head of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School. iii Abstract Gravitational lensing of distant quasars by intervening galaxies is a spectacular phenomenon in the universe. With the advent of Chandra, it is possible to resolve for the first time in the X-ray band lensed quasar images with separations greater than about 0.35 arcsec. We use lensing as a tool to study AGN and Cosmology with Chandra and XMM-Newton. First, we present results from a mini-survey of relatively high redshift (1:7 < z < 4) gravitationally lensed radio-quiet quasars observed with the Chandra X-ray Observa- tory and with XMM-Newton. The lensing magnification effect allows us to search for changes in quasar spectroscopic and flux variability properties with redshift over three orders of magnitude in intrinsic X-ray luminosity.
    [Show full text]
  • COSMOGRAIL: Measuring Time Delays of Gravitationally Lensed Quasars to Constrain Cosmology
    Astronomical Science COSMOGRAIL: Measuring Time Delays of Gravitationally Lensed Quasars to Constrain Cosmology Malte Tewes1 We live in a golden age for observational Strong lensing time delays Fréderic Courbin1 cosmology, where the Universe seems Georges Meylan1 fairly well described by the Big Bang Gravitational lensing describes the Christopher S. Kochanek2, 3 theory. This concordance model comes deflection of light by a gravitational Eva Eulaers4 at the price of evoking the existence of the field. In the case of a particularly deep Nicolas Cantale1 still poorly known dark matter and even potential well, the phenomenon can Ana M. Mosquera2, 3 more mysterious dark energy, but has the be spectacular: a luminous source in the Ildar Asfandiyarov5 advantage of describing the large-scale background of a massive galaxy (the Pierre Magain4 Universe using only a handful of parame- gravitational lens) can be “multiply im­­ Hans Van Winckel6 ters. Determining these parameters, and aged” and several distorted images of it Dominique Sluse7 testing our assumptions underlying the are seen around this galaxy. This phe- Rathna K. S. Keerthi8 concordance model, requires cosmologi- nomenon is known as “strong gravita- Chelliah S. Stalin8 cal probes — observations that are sen- tional lensing” and has several interesting Tushar P. Prabhu8 sitive tests to the metrics, content and cosmological applications. One of them Prasenjit Saha9 history of the Universe. They include uses the measurement of the “time Simon Dye10 standard candles like Cepheid variable
    [Show full text]
  • An Optical N-Body Gravitational Lens Analogy
    An optical n-body gravitational lens analogy Markus Selmke *Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF, Albert-Einstein-Str. 7, 07745 Jena, Germany∗ (Dated: November 12, 2019) Raised menisci around small discs positioned to pull up a water-air interface provide a well con- trollable experimental setup capable of reproducing much of the rich phenomenology of gravitational lensing (or microlensing events) by n-body clusters. Results are shown for single, binary and triple mass lenses. The scheme represents a versatile testbench for the (astro)physics of general relativity's gravitational lens effects, including high multiplicity imaging of extended sources. I. INTRODUCTION (a) (b) LED camera Gravitational lenses make for a fascinating and inspir- ing excursion in any optics class. They also confront stu- dents of a dedicated class on Einstein's general theory of acrylic pool relativity with a rich spectrum of associated phenomena. (water-lled) Accordingly, several introductions to the topic are avail- able, just as there are comprehensive books on the full sensor spectrum of observations (for a good selection of articles screen and books the reader is referred to a recent Resource Let- ter in this Journal1). Instead of attempting any further introduction to the topic, which the author would cer- FIG. 1. A suitably mounted acrylic water basin17 allows for tainly not be qualified to do in the first place, the article views through menisci-cluster lenses. Drawing pins are held proposes a new optical analogy in this field. above the unperturbed water level by carbon fiber rods (diam- Gravitational lenses found their optical refraction anal- eter ? = 0:5 mm, pins: ? = 10 mm).
    [Show full text]
  • The Chandra and XMM-Newton Views of the Einstein Cross
    Alma Mater Studiorum Universita` degli studi di Bologna SCUOLA DI SCIENZE Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia Corso di Laurea Magistrale in Astrofisica e Cosmologia Tesi di Laurea Magistrale The Chandra and XMM-Newton views of the Einstein Cross Presentata da: Relatore: Elena Bertola Chiar.mo Prof. Cristian Vignali Correlatori: Dott. Massimo Cappi Dott. Mauro Dadina Sessione IV Anno Accademico 2017-2018 2 Abstract Given the scaling relations found between the SMBH mass and the proper- ties of their host galaxy bulge, Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are thought to be significantly involved in the evolution of their host galaxies. The physical characterization of AGN feedback is, however, still an open issue. It is possi- bly associated with the generation of massive gas outflows, that might end up expelling most of the interstellar medium and quenching the star formation. These winds are seen to rise from the innermost regions of the accretion disk as fast winds at sub-pc scales (Ultra Fast Outflows, UFOs), visible in the X- ray band. Winds are also seen at other wavelengths, related to different gas phases, showing various velocities and spatial extensions. The current idea is that UFOs, given their extreme properties, could transfer their momenta to other gas components, generating winds that could reach up to kpc scales. A few sources show both UFOs and extended molecular winds, whose kinetic properties were found to correlate as predicted by state-of-the-art models for quasar-mode feedback. UFOs are characterized by the highest outflow ve- −2 locities (up to 0:2 − 0:3 c), column densities (log[NH=cm ] ' 22 − 24 ) and ionization states (log[ξ=erg s−1cm] ' 3 − 6).
    [Show full text]
  • ESO & NOT Photometric Monitoring of the Cloverleaf Quasar
    University of Groningen ESO & NOT photometric monitoring of the Cloverleaf quasar Ostensen, R; Remy, M; Lindblad, P O; Refsdal, S; Stabell, R; Surdej, J; Barthel, P D; Emanuelsen, P I; Festin, L; Gosset, E Published in: Astronomy & astrophysics supplement series DOI: 10.1051/aas:1997273 IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below. Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Publication date: 1997 Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database Citation for published version (APA): Ostensen, R., Remy, M., Lindblad, P. O., Refsdal, S., Stabell, R., Surdej, J., Barthel, P. D., Emanuelsen, P. I., Festin, L., Gosset, E., Hainaut, O., Hakala, P., Hjelm, M., Hjorth, J., Hutsemekers, D., Jablonski, M., Kaas, A. A., Kristen, H., Larsson, S., ... Van Drom, E. (1997). ESO & NOT photometric monitoring of the Cloverleaf quasar. Astronomy & astrophysics supplement series, 126(3), 393-400. https://doi.org/10.1051/aas:1997273 Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). The publication may also be distributed here under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license. More information can be found on the University of Groningen website: https://www.rug.nl/library/open-access/self-archiving-pure/taverne- amendment.
    [Show full text]
  • Microlensing Variability in the Gravitationally Lensed Quasar
    Astronomy & Astrophysics manuscript no. 8703 c ESO 2021 August 3, 2021 Microlensing variability in the gravitationally lensed quasar QSO 2237+0305 ≡ the Einstein Cross ⋆ I. Spectrophotometric monitoring with the VLT A. Eigenbrod1, F. Courbin1, D. Sluse1, G. Meylan1, and E. Agol2 1 Laboratoire d’Astrophysique, Ecole Polytechnique F´ed´erale de Lausanne (EPFL), Observatoire de Sauverny, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland 2 Astronomy Department, University of Washington, Box 351580, Seattle, WA 98195, USA Received ... ; accepted ... ABSTRACT We present the results of the first long-term (2.2 years) spectroscopic monitoring of a gravitationally lensed quasar, namely the Einstein Cross QSO 2237+0305. The goal of this paper is to present the observational facts to be compared in follow-up papers with theoretical models to constrain the inner structure of the source quasar. We spatially deconvolve deep VLT/FORS1 spectra to accurately separate the spectrum of the lensing galaxy from the spectra of the quasar images. Accurate cross-calibration of the 58 observations at 31-epoch from October 2004 to December 2006 is carried out with non-variable foreground stars observed simultaneously with the quasar. The quasar spectra are further decomposed into a continuum component and several broad emission lines to infer the variations of these spectral components. We find prominent microlensing events in the quasar images A and B, while images C and D are almost quiescent on a timescale of a few months. The strongest variations are observed in the continuum of image A. Their amplitude is larger in the blue (0.7 mag) than in the red (0.5 mag), consistent with microlensing of an accretion disk.
    [Show full text]