X‐Ray and Optical Flux Anomalies in the Quadruply Lensed QSO 1RXS J1131−1231

Abstract

Optical and X-ray observations of the quadruply imaged quasar 1RXS J1131-1231 show flux ratio anomalies among the images factors of ~2 in the optical and ~3-9 in X-rays. Temporal variability of the quasar seems an unlikely explanation for the discrepancies between the X-ray and optical flux ratio anomalies. The negative parity of the most affected image and the decreasing trend of the anomalies with wavelength suggest microlensing as a possible explanation; this would imply that the source of optical radiation in RXS J1131 is ~10^4 R_g in size for a black hole mass of ~10^8 M_sun. We also present evidence for different X-ray spectral hardness ratios among the four images.Comment: 5 pages, 1 color figure, replaced with version accepted to Ap