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Milliarcsecond X-Ray Astrometry to Resolve Inner Regions of AGN at z > 1 Using Gravitational Lensing
Abstract We report the localization of the X-ray emission from two strongly lensed AGN, CLASS B0712+472 ( z = 1.34) and CLASS B1608+656 ( z = 1.394). We obtain milliarcsecond X-ray astrometry by developing a novel method that combines parametric lens modeling with a Bayesian analysis. We spatially l...
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Published in: | The Astrophysical journal 2022-05, Vol.931 (1), p.68 |
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Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Citations: | Items that this one cites Items that cite this one |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | Abstract
We report the localization of the X-ray emission from two strongly lensed AGN, CLASS B0712+472 (
z
= 1.34) and CLASS B1608+656 (
z
= 1.394). We obtain milliarcsecond X-ray astrometry by developing a novel method that combines parametric lens modeling with a Bayesian analysis. We spatially locate the X-ray sources in CLASS B0712+472 and CLASS B1608+656 within 11 mas and 9 mas from the radio source, respectively. For CLASS B0712+472, we find that the X-ray emission is cospatial with the radio and optical emission. On the other hand, for CLASS B1608+656, the X-ray emission is cospatial with radio but displaced with respect to the optical emission at the 1
σ
level, which positions this source as an offset AGN candidate. This high astrometric precision improves on the limitations of existing X-ray instruments by two orders of magnitude. The demonstrated method opens a path to search for offset and binary AGN at
z
> 1, and to directly test supermassive black hole formation models in a redshift range that has been mostly underconstrained to date. |
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ISSN: | 0004-637X 1538-4357 |
DOI: | 10.3847/1538-4357/ac68eb |