Bibcode
Goicoechea, L. J.; Alcalde, D.; Mediavilla, E.; Muñoz, J. A.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, v.397, p.517-525 (2003)
Advertised on:
1
2003
Journal
Citations
22
Refereed citations
19
Description
We study a recently observed gravitational microlensing peak in the
V-band light curve of Q2237+0305A using a relatively simple physical
model, but one that is highly consistent with the data (the best-fit
reduced chi 2 is very close to 1). The source quasar is
assumed to be a Newtonian geometrically-thin and optically-thick
accretion disk. The disk has an arbitrary orientation, and both
blackbody and greybody emission spectra are considered. When the
electron-photon scattering plays a role, the greybody spectrum will be a
simplified version of the exact one. In our model, the microlensing
variability results from the source crossing a caustic straight line.
The main goal of our work is to estimate the black hole mass and the
mass accretion rate in QSO 2237+0305 as well as to discuss the power and
the weakness of the technique, some possible improvements, and future
prospects from multifrequency monitoring of new microlensing peaks. We
also put into perspective the new methodology and the results on the
central engine in QSO 2237+0305. From the fitted microlensing parameters
and reasonable dynamical/cosmological constraints, it is concluded that
QSO 2237+0305 harbours a central massive black hole: 107
Msun < M < 6 x 108 Msun. While
the information about the central dark mass is very interesting, the
mass accretion rate is not so well constrained. The typical values of
the disk luminosity/Eddington luminosity ratio are in the
(1-20)varepsilon range, where varepsilon <= 1 is the emissivity
relative to a blackbody and the highest L/LEdd ratio
corresponds to the largest deflector motion. Therefore, in order to
verify L/LEdd <= 1, a relatively small projected peculiar
motion of the lens galaxy and a greybody emission seem to be favored.