Dynamics of gas and dust clouds in active galactic nuclei

Abstract

We analyse the motion of single optically thick clouds in the potential of a central mass under the influence of an anisotropic radiation field ~|cos(θ)|, a model applicable to the inner region of active galactic nuclei. Resulting orbits are analytically soluble for constant cloud column densities. All stable orbits are closed, although they have non-trivial shapes. Furthermore, there exists a stability criterion in the form of a critical inclination, which depends on the luminosity of the central source and the column density of the cloud.

4 pages, 3 figures; language corrections, minor formatting changes

References in corpus (5)

• Resolving the complex structure of the dust torus in the active nucleus of the Circinus galaxy
• Radiative Transfer Modeling of Three-Dimensional Clumpy AGN Tori and its Application to NGC 1068
• Three-dimensional radiative transfer models of clumpy tori in Seyfert galaxies
• Resolving the obscuring torus in NGC 1068 with the power of infrared interferometry: Revealing the inner funnel of dust
• The Infrared Nuclear Emission of Seyfert Galaxies on Parsec Scales: Testing the Clumpy Torus models