[142.04] X-Ray and Optical Flux Anomalies in the Quadruply Lensed QSO 1RXS J1131-1231

AAS 207th Meeting, 8-12 January 2006
Session 142 Gravitational Lensing
Poster, Wednesday, 9:20am-6:30pm, January 11, 2006, Exhibit Hall

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[142.04] X-Ray and Optical Flux Anomalies in the Quadruply Lensed QSO 1RXS J1131-1231

J. A. Blackburne (MIT), D. Pooley (UC Berkeley), S. A. Rappaport, S. Burles (MIT), C. R. Keeton (Rutgers), P. L. Schechter (MIT)

Optical and X-ray observations of the quadruply imaged quasar 1RXS J1131-1231 show flux ratio anomalies among the images factors of ~2 in the optical and ~3--9 in X-rays. In addition, Hubble Space Telescope spectroscopy reveals that the optical broad emission line ratios are less anomalous than the continuum ratios. Temporal variability of the quasar seems an unlikely explanation for the discrepancies between the X-ray and optical flux ratio anomalies. The negative parity of the most affected image and the decreasing trend of the anomalies with wavelength suggest microlensing as an explanation; this implies that the source of optical radiation in RXS J1131 is ~10⁴ R_g in size for a black hole mass of ~10⁸ M_\sun.

The authors gratefully acknowledge support from NSF Grant AST-0206010, as well as from NASA's Chandra X-ray Center and Space Telescope Science Institute.

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