Gravitational microlensing of γ-ray blazars

We present a detailed study of the effects of gravitational microlensing on compact and distant γ-ray blazars. These objects have γ-ray-emitting regions that are small enough to be affected by microlensing effects produced by stars lying in intermediate galaxies. We compute the gravitational magnifi...

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Autores principales: Torres, D.F., Romero, G.E., Eiroa, E.F., Wambsganss, J., Pessah, M.E.
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Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_00358711_v339_n2_p335_Torres
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spelling todo:paper_00358711_v339_n2_p335_Torres2023-10-03T14:46:41Z Gravitational microlensing of γ-ray blazars Torres, D.F. Romero, G.E. Eiroa, E.F. Wambsganss, J. Pessah, M.E. Galaxies: active Gamma-rays: observations Gamma-rays: theory Gravitational lensing We present a detailed study of the effects of gravitational microlensing on compact and distant γ-ray blazars. These objects have γ-ray-emitting regions that are small enough to be affected by microlensing effects produced by stars lying in intermediate galaxies. We compute the gravitational magnification taking into account effects of the lensing and show that, whereas the innermost γ-ray spheres can be significantly magnified, there is little magnification either for very high γ-ray energies or for lower (radio) frequencies (because these wavelengths are emitted from larger regions). We analyse the temporal evolution of the gamma-ray magnification for sources moving in a caustic pattern field, where the combined effects of thousands of stars are taken into account using a numerical technique. We propose that some of the unidentified γ-ray sources (particularly some of those lying at high galactic latitude with gamma-ray statistical properties that are very similar to detected γ-ray blazars) are indeed the result of gravitational lensing magnification of background undetected active galactic nuclei (AGN). This is partly supported from a statistical point of view: we show herein as well, using the latest information from the third EGRET catalogue, that high-latitude γ-ray sources have similar averaged properties to already detected γ-ray AGN. Some differences between both samples, regarding the mean flux level, could also be understood within the lensing model. With an adequate selection of lensing parameters, it is possible to explain a variety of γ-ray light curves with different time-scales, including non-variable sources. The absence of strong radio counterparts could be naturally explained by differential magnification in the extended source formalism. JOUR info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ar http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_00358711_v339_n2_p335_Torres
institution Universidad de Buenos Aires
institution_str I-28
repository_str R-134
collection Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA)
topic Galaxies: active
Gamma-rays: observations
Gamma-rays: theory
Gravitational lensing
spellingShingle Galaxies: active
Gamma-rays: observations
Gamma-rays: theory
Gravitational lensing
Torres, D.F.
Romero, G.E.
Eiroa, E.F.
Wambsganss, J.
Pessah, M.E.
Gravitational microlensing of γ-ray blazars
topic_facet Galaxies: active
Gamma-rays: observations
Gamma-rays: theory
Gravitational lensing
description We present a detailed study of the effects of gravitational microlensing on compact and distant γ-ray blazars. These objects have γ-ray-emitting regions that are small enough to be affected by microlensing effects produced by stars lying in intermediate galaxies. We compute the gravitational magnification taking into account effects of the lensing and show that, whereas the innermost γ-ray spheres can be significantly magnified, there is little magnification either for very high γ-ray energies or for lower (radio) frequencies (because these wavelengths are emitted from larger regions). We analyse the temporal evolution of the gamma-ray magnification for sources moving in a caustic pattern field, where the combined effects of thousands of stars are taken into account using a numerical technique. We propose that some of the unidentified γ-ray sources (particularly some of those lying at high galactic latitude with gamma-ray statistical properties that are very similar to detected γ-ray blazars) are indeed the result of gravitational lensing magnification of background undetected active galactic nuclei (AGN). This is partly supported from a statistical point of view: we show herein as well, using the latest information from the third EGRET catalogue, that high-latitude γ-ray sources have similar averaged properties to already detected γ-ray AGN. Some differences between both samples, regarding the mean flux level, could also be understood within the lensing model. With an adequate selection of lensing parameters, it is possible to explain a variety of γ-ray light curves with different time-scales, including non-variable sources. The absence of strong radio counterparts could be naturally explained by differential magnification in the extended source formalism.
format JOUR
author Torres, D.F.
Romero, G.E.
Eiroa, E.F.
Wambsganss, J.
Pessah, M.E.
author_facet Torres, D.F.
Romero, G.E.
Eiroa, E.F.
Wambsganss, J.
Pessah, M.E.
author_sort Torres, D.F.
title Gravitational microlensing of γ-ray blazars
title_short Gravitational microlensing of γ-ray blazars
title_full Gravitational microlensing of γ-ray blazars
title_fullStr Gravitational microlensing of γ-ray blazars
title_full_unstemmed Gravitational microlensing of γ-ray blazars
title_sort gravitational microlensing of γ-ray blazars
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_00358711_v339_n2_p335_Torres
work_keys_str_mv AT torresdf gravitationalmicrolensingofgrayblazars
AT romeroge gravitationalmicrolensingofgrayblazars
AT eiroaef gravitationalmicrolensingofgrayblazars
AT wambsganssj gravitationalmicrolensingofgrayblazars
AT pessahme gravitationalmicrolensingofgrayblazars
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