Bibcode
Mediavilla Gradolph, Teresa; Mediavilla, E.; Muñoz, Jose Antonio
Bibliographical reference
Baltic Astronomy, Vol. 20, p. 414-418
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2011
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
Multiple images of quasars formed by gravitational lensing are typically
seen through the lensing galaxy. The granulation of the galaxy in stars
or other compact objects induces local (`microscopic') but strong
fluctuations in the gravitational potential that subdivide each image in
several micro-images changing the expected flux of the image (flux
anomalies). This phenomenon, quasar microlensing, allows to study both
the unresolved structure of the source and the composition of the
lensing galaxy. We have applied a statistical analysis based on caustic
crossing to the multiply imaged quasar QSO B2237+0305. The results
indicate that the abundance of low-mass stars in the distribution of
microlenses could be estimated with 10 years of monitoring.