resolving the high-energy universe with strong gravitational lensing: The case of PKS 1830–211

Journal Article · Mon Aug 10 04:00:00 EDT 2015 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/809/1/100· OSTI ID:22882769

Barnacka, Anna; Geller, Margaret J.; Benbow, Wystan ^[1]

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1. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St, MS-20, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)

Gravitational lensing is a potentially powerful tool for elucidating the origin of gamma-ray emission from distant sources. Cosmic lenses magnify the emission from distant sources and produce time delays between mirage images. Gravitationally induced time delays depend on the position of the emitting regions in the source plane. The Fermi/LAT telescope continuously monitors the entire sky and detects gamma-ray flares, including those from gravitationally lensed blazars. Therefore, temporal resolution at gamma-ray energies can be used to measure these time delays, which, in turn, can be used to resolve the origin of the gamma-ray flares spatially. We provide a guide to the application and Monte Carlo simulation of three techniques for analyzing these unresolved light curves: the autocorrelation function, the double power spectrum, and the maximum peak method. We apply these methods to derive time delays from the gamma-ray light curve of the gravitationally lensed blazar PKS 1830–211. The result of temporal analysis combined with the properties of the lens from radio observations yield an improvement in spatial resolution at gamma-ray energies by a factor of 10,000. We analyze four active periods. For two of these periods the emission is consistent with origination from the core, and for the other two the data suggest that the emission region is displaced from the core by more than ∼1.5 kpc. For the core emission, the gamma-ray time delays, 23±0.5 days and 19.7±1.2 days, are consistent with the radio time delay of 26{sub −5}{sup +4} days.

• OSTI ID: 22882769
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 809; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United Kingdom
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DATA ANALYSIS
EMISSION
GALAXIES
GAMMA RADIATION
GRAVITATIONAL LENSES
MONTE CARLO METHOD
QUASARS
SPATIAL RESOLUTION
SPECTRA
TELESCOPES
TIME DELAY
UNIVERSE