MICROLENSING EVIDENCE THAT A TYPE 1 QUASAR IS VIEWED FACE-ON
Abstract
Using a microlensing analysis of 11 years of OGLE V-band photometry of the four image gravitational lens Q2237+0305, we measure the inclination i of the accretion disk to be cos i > 0.66 at 68% confidence. Very edge on (cos i < 0.39) solutions are ruled out at 95% confidence. We measure the V-band radius of the accretion disk, defined by the radius where the temperature matches the monitoring band photon emission, to be R_V = 5.8^+3.8_–2.3 × 10^15 cm assuming a simple thin disk model and including the uncertainties in its inclination. The projected radiating area of the disk remains too large to be consistent with the observed flux for a T α R^–3/4 thin disk temperature profile. There is no strong correlation between the direction of motion (peculiar velocity) of the lens galaxy and the orientation of the disk.