Precision Photometry for Q0957+561 Images A and B

Abstract

Since the persuasive determination of the time-delay in Q0957+561, much interest has centered around shifting and subtracting the A and B light-curves to look for residuals due to microlensing. Solar mass objects in the lens galaxy produce variations on timescales of decades, with amplitudes of a few tenths of a magnitude, but MACHO's (with masses of order $10^{-3}$ to $10^{-7}M_\odot$) produce variations at only the 5% level. To detect such small variations, highly precise photometry is required. To that end, we have used 200 observations over three nights to examine the effects of seeing on the light-curves. We have determined that seeing itself can be responsible for correlated 5% variations in the light-curves of A and B. We have found, however, that these effects can be accurately removed, by subtracting the light from the lens galaxy, and by correcting for cross contamination of light between the closely juxtaposed A and B images. We find that these corrections improve the variations due to seeing from 5% to a level only marginally detectable over photon shot noise (0.5%).