Bibcode
Popović, L. Č.; Mediavilla, E. G.; Jovanović, P.; Muñoz, J. A.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, v.398, p.975-982 (2003)
Advertised on:
2
2003
Journal
Citations
49
Refereed citations
40
Description
We study the influence of gravitational microlensing on the AGN Fe
Kalpha line confirming that unexpected enhancements recently
detected in the iron line of some AGNs can be produced by this effect.
We use a ray tracing method to study the influence of microlensing in
the emission coming from a compact accretion disc considering both
geometries, Schwarzschild and Kerr.
Thanks to the small dimensions of the region producing the AGN Fe
Kalpha line, the Einstein Ring Radii associated to even very
small compact objects have size comparable to the accretion disc hence
producing noticeable changes in the line profiles. Asymmetrical
enhancements contributing differently to the peaks or to the core of the
line are produced by a microlens, off-centered with respect to the
accretion disc.
In the standard configuration of microlensing by a compact object in an
intervening galaxy, we found that the effects on the iron line are two
orders of magnitude larger than those expected in the optical or UV
emission lines. In particular, microlensing can satisfactorily explain
the excess in the iron line emission found very recently in two
gravitational lens systems, H 1413+117 and MG J0414+0534.
Exploring other physical scenarios for microlensing, we found that
compact objects (of the order of one Solar mass) which belong to the
bulge or the halo of the host galaxy can also produce significant
changes in the Fe Kalpha line profile of an AGN. However,
the optical depth estimated for this type of microlensing is very small,
tau ~ 0.001, even in a favorable case.