THE SIZES OF THE X-RAY AND OPTICAL EMISSION REGIONS OF RXJ 1131–1231

By Xinyu Dai, C. Kochanek, G. Chartas, S. Kozłowski, C. Morgan, G. Garmire, E. D. O. Astronomy, U. Michigan, D. O. Astronomy, Center for Particle Cosmology and 7 more. Astrophysical Journal, 2009

177 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We use gravitational microlensing of the four images of the z = 0.658 quasar RXJ 1131–1231 to measure the sizes of the optical and X-ray emission regions of the quasar. The (face-on) scale length of the optical disk at rest frame 400 nm is Rλ,O = 1.3 × 1015 cm, while the half-light radius of the rest frame 0.3–17 keV X-ray emission is R1/2,X = 2.3 × 1014 cm. The formal uncertainties are factors of 1.6 and 2.0, respectively. With the exception of the lower limit on the X-ray size, the results are very stable against any changes in the priors used in the analysis. Based on the Hβ line width, we estimate that the black hole mass is M1131 ≃ 108 M☉, which corresponds to a gravitational radius of rg ≃ 2 × 1013 cm. Thus, the X-ray emission is emerging on scales of ∼10rg and the 400 nm emission on scales of ∼70rg. A standard thin disk of this size should be significantly brighter than observed. Possible solutions are to have a flatter temperature profile or to scatter a large fraction of the optical flux on larger scales after it is emitted. While our calculations were not optimized to constrain the dark matter fraction in the lens galaxy, dark matter-dominated models are favored. With well-sampled optical and X-ray light curves over a broad range of frequencies, there will be no difficulty in extending our analysis to completely map the structure of the accretion disk as a function of wavelength.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. S. Davis
2. Ari Laor
3. L. Miller
4. F. Tombesi
5. T. Turner
6. M. Cappi
7. V. Braito
8. J. A. Blackburne

In Instrumentation

1. S. Davis
2. Ari Laor
3. T. Turner
4. J. A. Blackburne
5. M. Cappi
6. L. Miller
7. D. Pooley
8. J. Reeves

Citations in the corpus

• THE RADIATIVE EFFICIENCY OF ACCRETION FLOWS IN INDIVIDUAL ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI (2010, background): “The major discrepancy is that the optical to UV emission is constrained to come from radii which are factors of ∼ 3−10 larger than expected from a standard disk (e.g. Mortonson et al. 2005; Pooley et al. 2006, 2007; Morgan et al. 2010, 2008; Dai et al. 2010).”
• SIZES AND TEMPERATURE PROFILES OF QUASAR ACCRETION DISKS FROM CHROMATIC MICROLENSING (2010, background): “Since the microlensing variability is in general stronger in X-rays than at optical wavelengths, the X-rays must come from a quite compact region (Pooley et al. 2007, 2009; Dai et al. 2010).”
• The Suzaku View of Highly Ionized Outflows in AGN. 1; Statistical Detection and Global Absorber Properties (2012, background): “…is of the order of a few tens of E-mail: jag@astro.keele.ac.uk gravitational radii (Rg = GM/c2) in size (Morgan et al. 2008; Chartas et al. 2009; Dai et al. 2010) and so the spectral analysis of absorption features imprinted on the X-ray continuum by circumnuclear material in an AGN is a…”