Infrared Interferometry and AGNs: Parsec-scale Disks and Dusty Outflows

Abstract

The "torus" is the central element of the most popular theory unifying various classes of AGNs, but it is usually described as "putative" because it has not been imaged yet. Since it is too small to be resolved with single-dish telescopes, one can only make indirect assumptions about its structure using models. Using infrared interferometry, however, we were able to resolve the circum-nuclear dust distributions for several nearby AGNs and achieved constraints on some further two dozen sources. We discovered circum-nuclear dust on parsec scales in all sources and, in two nearby sources, were able to dissect this dust into two distinct components. The compact component, a very thin disk, appears to be connected to the maser disk and the extended one, which is responsible for most of the mid-IR flux, is oriented perpendicularly to the circum-nuclear gas disks. What may come as a surprise when having in mind the standard unification cartoon actually connects well to observations on larger scales. Optically thin dust in the polar region, perhaps driven by a disk wind, could solve both the scale height problem of the torus and explain the missing anisotropy in the mid-IR - X-ray relation.

arXiv comment9 pages (+ references), 5 figures, review paper for SPIE astronomical instrumentation 2016

References in corpus (48)

• A Cosmological Framework for the Co-Evolution of Quasars, Supermassive Black Holes, and Elliptical Galaxies: I. Galaxy Mergers & Quasar Activity
• Revisiting the Unified Model of Active Galactic Nuclei
• The Radius-Luminosity Relationship for Active Galactic Nuclei: The Effect of Host-Galaxy Starlight on Luminosity Measurements II. The Full Sample of Reverberation-Mapped AGNs
• Reverberation Measurements of the Inner Radius of the Dust Torus in Nearby Seyfert 1 Galaxies
• Resolving the mid-infrared cores of local Seyferts
• The relation between AGN hard X-ray emission and mid-infrared continuum from ISO spectra: Scatter and unification aspects
• Resolving the complex structure of the dust torus in the active nucleus of the Circinus galaxy
• Determining Inclinations of Active Galactic Nuclei Via Their Narrow-Line Region Kinematics - I. Observational Results
• A diversity of dusty AGN tori: Data release for the VLTI/MIDI AGN Large Program and first results for 23 galaxies
• Dust in the polar region as a major contributor to the IR emission of AGN
• The dusty torus in the Circinus galaxy: a dense disk and the torus funnel
• The subarcsecond mid-infrared view of local active galactic nuclei: II. The mid-infrared--X-ray correlation
• The subarcsecond mid-infrared view of local active galactic nuclei: I. The N- and Q-band imaging atlas
• Testing the Unification Model for AGN in the Infrared: are the obscuring tori of Type 1 and 2 Seyferts different?
• On the Unification of Active Galactic Nuclei
• Parsec-scale dust emission from the polar region in the type 2 nucleus of NGC 424
• Mapping the radial structure of AGN tori
• The subarcsecond mid-infrared view of local active galactic nuclei: III. Polar dust emission
• The innermost dusty structure in active galactic nuclei as probed by the Keck interferometer
• Mid-infrared interferometry of 23 AGN tori: On the significance of polar-elongated emission
• Parsec-scale dust distributions in Seyfert galaxies - Results of the MIDI AGN snapshot survey
• Resolving the innermost parsec of Centaurus A at mid-infrared wavelengths
• Mid-infrared properties of nearby low-luminosity AGN at high angular resolution
• Interferometer Observations of Subparsec-scale Infrared Emission in the Nucleus of NGC 4151
• Revealing the large nuclear dust structures in NGC 1068 with MIDI/VLTI
• Exploring the inner region of Type 1 AGNs with the Keck interferometer
• Star formation black hole growth and dusty tori in the most luminous AGNs at z=2-3.5
• Obscuration in AGNs: near-infrared luminosity relations and dust colors
• Extended silicate dust emission in PG QSOs
• Unobscured Type 2 AGNs
• A dust-parallax distance of 19 megaparsecs to the supermassive black hole in NGC 4151
• Dust emission from a parsec-scale structure in the Seyfert 1 nucleus of NGC 4151
• Hubble Space Telescope Imaging of the Circinus Galaxy
• VLTI/VINCI observations of the nucleus of NGC 1068 using the adaptive optics system MACAO
• The VLTI/MIDI survey of massive young stellar objects - Sounding the inner regions around intermediate- and high-mass young stars using mid-infrared interferometry
• A new analysis of the nucleus of NGC 1068 with MIDI observations
• Evidence for a receding dust sublimation region around a supermassive black hole
• Luminosity-variation independent location of the circum-nuclear, hot dust in NGC 4151
• VLTI/AMBER observations of the Seyfert nucleus of NGC 3783
• The central parsecs of active galactic nuclei: challenges to the torus
• Probing the dusty environment of the Seyfert 1 nucleus in NGC 3783 with MIDI/VLTI interferometry
• On the size-luminosity relation of AGN dust tori in the mid-infrared
• Upholding the Unified Model for Active Galactic Nuclei: VLT/FORS2 Spectropolarimetry of Seyfert 2 galaxies
• Possible evidence for a common radial structure in nearby AGN tori
• Submillimeter H2O Maser in Circinus Galaxy - A New Probe for the Circumnuclear Region of Active Galactic Nuclei
• Resolving the nucleus of Centaurus A at mid-IR wavelengths
• Mid-infrared interferometry of Seyfert galaxies: Challenging the Standard Model
• Diffraction-limited 76 mas Speckle Masking Observations of the Core of NGC 1068 with the SAO 6m Telescope

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Dusty winds in active galactic nuclei: reconciling observations with models
• BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey - XI. The Covering Factor of Dust and Gas in Swift/BAT Active Galactic Nuclei
• Astrophotonics: astronomy and modern optics
• Thick turbulent gas disks with magnetocentrifugal winds in active galactic nuclei - Model infrared emission and optical polarization
• X-ray signatures of the polar dusty gas in AGN
• X-ray Simulations of Polar Gas in Accreting Supermassive Black Holes