paper

Early Stages of Dusty Tori: The First Infrared Spectra from a Highly Multiscale Quasar Simulation

arXiv:2509.09770 · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ae29af

Abstract

We present the first infrared spectral predictions from a self-consistent simulation of the formation of a quasar in a starburst galaxy, spanning the cosmological environment to scales well below the dust sublimation region. The infrared (IR) emission is dominated by a torus-like dust structure composed of the highly magnetized, turbulence-supported outer accretion disk and of accreting gas tidally torn from the interstellar medium (ISM). At these early stages, the active galactic nuclei (AGN) is buried and Compton-thick. The near- to mid-IR escaping luminosity varies by almost an order of magnitude across sightlines, largely due to extinction from the inflowing stream of cold dust. Self-absorption within the torus suppresses silicate emission features, and further reprocessing by the ambient ISM leads to prominent silicate absorption and colder IR emission. The sublimation structure is stratified by composition and size, producing sightline-dependent extinction curves that intrinsically vary in shape. However, after repeated scattering in the optically thick dusty medium, these curves emerge substantially grayed. We also demonstrate that bipolar outflows from the central black hole that carve biconical cavities and reveal the central engine in later stages can preserve IR anisotropy and silicate features. These results suggest that dusty starburst quasars can undergo a buried, IR-bright phase early in their evolution.

21 pages, 11 figures. ApJ accepted version

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