Line profile distortions are commonly observed in gravitationally lensed quasar spectra. These distortions are caused by microlensing from the stars in the lensing galaxy, which produce differential ...magnification of spatially and kinematically separated parts of the broad line region (BLR). The quasi-simultaneous visible and near-infrared spectroscopy of the lensed quasar Q2237+0305 reveals strong microlensing-induced line deformations in the high-ionization C
IV
λ
1549 Å and the low-ionization H
α
emission lines. We use this effect to constrain the BLR size, geometry, and kinematics in Q2237+0305. For this purpose, we modeled the deformation of the emission lines for three representative BLR models: a Keplerian disk, an equatorial wind, and a biconical polar wind. We considered various inclinations with respect to the line of sight. We find that the observed microlensing effect, characterized by a set of four indices, can only be reproduced by a subsample of the considered BLR models. The microlensing analysis favors a Keplerian disk model for the regions emitting the C
IV
and the H
α
emission lines. A polar wind model remains possible for the C
IV
BLR, although it is less likely. The equatorial wind model is totally excluded. A preferred inclination of the BLR of 40° is found, in agreement with expectations for a type 1 AGN and past constraints on the accretion disk inclination. The half-light radius of the BLR is
r
1/2
≃ 47 ± 19 light-days, with no significant difference between the C
IV
and H
α
BLRs. The size of the C
IV
BLR agrees with the radius-luminosity relation derived from reverberation mapping, while the size of the Balmer line BLR is one order of magnitude smaller, possibly revealing different quasar properties at high luminosities and high accretion rates.
Context.
Variations in the mass accretion rate appear to be responsible for the rapid transitions in spectral type that are observed in increasingly more active galactic nuclei (AGNs). These objects ...are now labeled “changing-look” AGNs and are key objects for understanding the physics of accretion onto supermassive black holes.
Aims.
We aim to complement the analysis and interpretation of changing-look AGNs by modeling the polarization variations that can be observed, in particular, polarized-light echoes.
Methods.
We built a complex and representative model of an AGN and its host galaxy and ran radiative transfer simulations to obtain realistic time-dependent polarization signatures of changing-look objects. Based on actual data, we allowed the system to become several times fainter or brighter within a few years, assuming a rapid change in accretion rate.
Results.
We obtain time-dependent polarization signatures of distant high-luminosity (quasars) and nearby low-luminosity (Seyferts) changing-look AGNs for a representative set of inclinations. We predict the evolution of the continuum polarization for future polarimetric campaigns with the goal to better understand the physics at work in these objects. We also investigate highly inclined AGNs that experience strong accretion rate variations without appearing to change state. We apply our modeling to Mrk 1018, the best-documented case of a changing-look AGN, and predict a variation in its polarization after the recent dimming of its continuum.
Conclusions.
We demonstrate that polarization monitoring campaigns that cover the transitions that are observed in changing-look AGNs might bring crucial information on the geometry and composition of all the reprocessing regions within the nucleus. In particular, specific features in the time variation of the polarization position angle can provide a new and efficient method for determining AGN inclinations.
When an image of a strongly lensed quasar is microlensed, the different components of its spectrum are expected to be differentially magnified owing to the different sizes of the corresponding ...emitting region. Chromatic changes are expected to be observed in the continuum while the emission lines should be deformed as a function of the size, geometry and kinematics of the regions from which they originate. Microlensing of the emission lines has been reported only in a handful of systems so far. In this paper we search for microlensing deformations of the optical spectra of pairs of images in 17 lensed quasars with bolometric luminosities between 1044.7 − 47.4 erg/s and black hole masses 107.6 − 9.8 M⊙. This sample is composed of 13 pairs of previously unpublished spectra and four pairs of spectra from literature. Our analysis is based on a simple spectral decomposition technique which allows us to isolate the microlensed fraction of the flux independently of a detailed modeling of the quasar emission lines. Using this technique, we detect microlensing of the continuum in 85% of the systems. Among them, 80% show microlensing of the broad emission lines. Focusing on the most common emission lines in our spectra (C III and Mg II) we detect microlensing of either the blue or the red wing, or of both wings with the same amplitude. This observation implies that the broad line region is not in general spherically symmetric. In addition, the frequent detection of microlensing of the blue and red wings independently but not simultaneously with a different amplitude, does not support existing microlensing simulations of a biconical outflow. Our analysis also provides the intrinsic flux ratio between the lensed images and the magnitude of the microlensing affecting the continuum. These two quantities are particularly relevant for the determination of the fraction of matter in clumpy form in galaxies and for the detection of dark matter substructures via the identification of flux ratio anomalies.
We test the hypothesis that the polarization vectors of flat-spectrum radio sources (FSRSs) from the JVAS/CLASS 8.4-GHz surveys are randomly oriented in the sky. A sample with robust polarization ...measurements is made with 4155 objects. Redshift information is known for 1531 of them. We performed two statistical analyses: one in two dimensions and the other in three dimensions when distance is available. We find significant large-scale alignments of polarization vectors for samples containing only quasars among the varieties of FSRS. While these correlations prove difficult to explain either by a physical effect or by biases in the data set, that the quasars that have significantly aligned polarization vectors are found in regions of the sky where optical polarization alignments were previously found is striking.
If the disappearance of the broad emission lines observed in changing-look quasars were caused by the obscuration of the quasar core through moving dust clouds in the torus, high linear polarization ...typical of type 2 quasars would be expected. We measured the polarization of the changing-look quasar J1011+5442 in which the broad emission lines have disappeared between 2003 and 2015. We found a polarization degree compatible with null polarization. This measurement suggests that the observed change of look is not due to a change of obscuration hiding the continuum source and the broad line region, and that the quasar is seen close to the system axis. Our results thus support the idea that the vanishing of the broad emission lines in J1011+5442 is due to an intrinsic dimming of the ionizing continuum source that is most likely caused by a rapid decrease in the rate of accretion onto the supermassive black hole.
Lensed quasars are powerful cosmic laboratories; they are used to simultaneously probe various astrophysical phenomena. Microlensing by stars within distant galaxies acts as strong gravitational ...lenses of multiply imaged quasars, and provides a unique and direct measurement of the lensed quasar internal structure. Microlensing of the continuum emitting region as well as the broad-line region (BLR) is well characterized by four observable indices, μ cont , μ BLR , WCI (wing-core), and RBI (red-blue), measured directly from the spectra. During the 2004−2007 monitoring period, image A of the quadruply lensed system Q2237+0305 underwent a strong microlensing amplification, while image D remained unaffected. We used 35 epochs of archival spectrophotometric data of Q2237+0305 obtained with the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory to develop an independent microlensing method for estimating the geometry and size of the BLR. We measured the index time series for the C IV line and the continuum emission at 1450 Å. We built a library of the simulated microlensing index time series that reproduce the observed times series based on three representative BLR models: Keplerian disk (KD), polar wind (PW), and equatorial wind (EW). After sampling the model parameter space, we find that KD is the predominant model, while PW and EW are less likely. We infer that the system is viewed at an intermediate viewing angle i ∼ 35°, and we estimate the most likely C IV BLR half-light radius r 1/2 = 51 ± 23 light days. Our results are in good agreement with previous findings in the literature and extend the validity of the index-based approach to a temporal domain.
Gravitational microlensing is a powerful tool for probing the inner structure of distant quasars. In this context, we have obtained spectropolarimetric observations of the two images of the broad ...absorption line (BAL) quasar SDSS J081830.46+060138.0 (J0818+0601) at redshift
z
≃ 2.35. We first show that J0818+0601 is actually gravitationally lensed, and not a binary quasar. A strong absorption system detected at
z
= 1.0065 ± 0.0002 is possibly due to the lensing galaxy. Microlensing is observed in one image and it magnifies the emission lines, the continuum, and the BALs differently. By disentangling the part of the spectrum that is microlensed from the part that is not microlensed, we unveil two sources of continuum that must be spatially separated: a compact one, which is microlensed, and an extended one, which is not microlensed and contributes to two thirds of the total continuum emission. J0818+0601 is the second BAL quasar in which an extended source of rest-frame ultraviolet continuum is found. We also find that the images are differently polarized, suggesting that the two continua might be differently polarized. Our analysis provides constraints on the BAL flow. In particular, we find that the outflow is seen with a nonzero onset velocity, and stratified according to ionization.
Aims.
2I/Borisov (hereafter 2I) is the first visibly active interstellar comet observed in the Solar System, allowing us for the first time to sample the composition of a building block from another ...system. We report on the monitoring of 2I with the Ultraviolet-Visual Echelle Spectrograph, the high-resolution optical spectrograph of the ESO Very Large Telescope at Paranal, for four months from November 15, 2019 to March 16, 2020. Our goal is to characterise the activity and composition of 2I with respect to Solar System comets.
Methods.
We collected high-resolution spectra at 12 different epochs from 2.1 au pre-perihelion to 2.6 au post-perihelion.
Results.
On December 24 and 26, 2019, close to perihelion, we detected several OH lines of the 309 nm (0–0) band and derived a water production rate of 2.2 ± 0.2 × 10
26
molecules s
−1
. The three OI forbidden oxygen lines were detected at different epochs and we derived a green-to-red doublet intensity ratio (G/R) of 0.31 ± 0.05 close to perihelion. The NH
2
ortho and para lines from various bands were measured and allowed us to derive an ortho-to-para abundance ratio (OPR) of 3.21 ± 0.15, corresponding to an OPR and spin temperature of ammonia of 1.11 ± 0.08 and 31
−5
+10
K, respectively. These values are consistent with the values usually measured for Solar System comets. Emission lines of the radicals NH (336 nm), CN (388 nm), CH (431 nm), and C
2
(517 nm) were also detected. Several FeI and NiI lines were identified and their intensities were measured to provide a ratio of log (NiI/FeI) = 0.21 ± 0.18, which is in agreement with the value recently found in Solar System comets.
Conclusions.
Our high spectral resolution observations of 2I/Borisov and the associated measurements of the NH
2
OPR and the Ni/Fe abundance ratio are remarkably similar to Solar System comets. Only the G/R ratio is unusually high, but it is consistent with the high abundance ratio of CO/H
2
O found by other investigators.
We have measured the optical linear polarization of quasars belonging to Gpc scale quasar groups at redshift z ~ 1.3. Out of 93 quasars observed, 19 are significantly polarized. We found that quasar ...polarization vectors are either parallel or perpendicular to the directions of the large-scale structures to which they belong. Statistical tests indicate that the probability that this effect can be attributed to randomly oriented polarization vectors is on the order of 1%. We also found that quasars with polarization perpendicular to the host structure preferentially have large emission line widths while objects with polarization parallel to the host structure preferentially have small emission line widths. Considering that quasar polarization is usually either parallel or perpendicular to the accretion disk axis depending on the inclination with respect to the line of sight, and that broader emission lines originate from quasars seen at higher inclinations, we conclude that quasar spin axes are likely parallel to their host large-scale structures.
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