Gravitational microlensing of quasar Broad Line Regions: the influence of fractal structures

Abstract

Recent models for the emission clouds within the Broad Line Region of quasars suggest that they are due to transient overdensities within an overall turbulent medium. If this were the case, the broad line emission would spatially appear fractal, possessing structure on a range of scales. This paper examines the influence of such fractal structure when a quasar is microlensed by a population of intervening masses. It is found that while the highest fractal levels can undergo significant microlensing magnification, when these light curves are superimposed to create an emission line profile, the resultant emission line profile remains relatively constant for physical models of the Broad Line Region. It is concluded that the detection of the possible fractal structure of Broad Line Regions via gravitational microlensing is not practical.

6 pages, accepted for publication in MNRAS (note, resolution of figures reduced to size restrictions)

References in corpus (4)

• Gravitational microlensing of quasar broad line regions at large optical depths
• The Formation of Broad Emission Line Regions in Supernova-QSO Wind Interactions II. 2D Calculations
• The Formation of Broad Emission Line Regions in Supernova-QSO Wind Interactions
• Gravitational Microlensing of Fractal Sources

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Q2237+0305 source structure and dimensions from light curves simulation
• Gravitational Microlensing of a Reverberating Quasar Broad Line Region - I. Method and Qualitative Results
• Evidence for microlensing by primordial black holes in quasar broad emission lines