2006MNRAS.367.1217L

Recent models for the emission clouds within the broad-line region (BLR) 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 BLR. It is concluded that the detection of the possible fractal structure of BLRs via gravitational microlensing is not practical.