Polarization microlensing in the quadruply imaged broad absorption line quasar H1413+117

Abstract

We have obtained spectropolarimetric observations of the four images of the gravitationally lensed broad absorption line quasar H1413+117. The polarization of the microlensed image D is significantly different, both in the continuum and in the broad lines, from the polarization of image A, which is essentially unaffected by microlensing. The observations suggest that the continuum is scattered off two regions, spatially separated, and producing roughly perpendicular polarizations. These results are compatible with a model in which the microlensed polarized continuum comes from a compact region located in the equatorial plane close to the accretion disk and the non-microlensed continuum from an extended region located along the polar axis. © ESO, 2015.