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Quasar Variability and Gravitational Microlensing

Authors: M. R. S. Hawkins; A. N. Taylor;

Quasar Variability and Gravitational Microlensing

Abstract

In this Letter we examine the claim by Baganoff & Malkan that the timescale of brightness variations of quasars increases with decreasing optical wavelength, and that this effect can offset a time dilation effect at high redshift. They base their case on a thin accretion disk model that implies that timescales become shorter as the observed passband becomes bluer. We show that light curves of both Seyfert galaxies and quasars conflict with the predictions of their model and that neither the timescale nor the structure of AGN light curves changes with color. We discuss the consequences of this result for accretion disk models of quasars and the relation of our result to the microlensing mechanism for quasar variability. We also look at the implications of quasar microlensing for the nature of dark matter, and use some recent results on quark masses to support the idea that the dark matter is in the form of primordial black holes.

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    influence
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Powered by OpenAIRE graph
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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
20
Top 10%
Top 10%
Average
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