Ana Esteban Gutiérrez
The Einstein Cross: A Deep Dive into an Iconic Gravitational Lens
The Einstein Cross gravitational lens system is famous for being an ideal microlensing laboratory, offering exceptional opportunities to track and measure changes in the imprints of the quasar variability due to its high frequency of microlensing events from numerous caustic crossings of compact objects (typically stars). Its lens galaxy, unusually located at a very low redshift (zl ~ 0.03), along with the source quasar (zs ~ 1.69), provides a unique configuration. This proximity, added to the fact that the four macro-images are formed in the bulge of its spiral lens galaxy, allows us to observe microlensing-induced light curve variations over shorter time scales compared to other lens systems. In case these flux magnification changes are significant enough (i.e., high magnification events), they could offer a wealth of crucial information about the innermost regions of the quasar’s SMBH or the mass distribution within galaxies, as well as estimations of the peculiar velocities of galaxies, which are strongly correlated with the frequency of these caustic crossing events. Thus, in this contribution, my aim is to show why this extraordinary system has drawn significant attention since its discovery in 1985 and explore the huge potential it still holds.
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The Einstein Cross: A Deep Dive into an Iconic Gravitational Lens
