An accretion disk in an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) harbors and shields dust from external illumination: at the mid-plane of the disk around a $M_{\rm BH}=10^{7}M_{\odot}$ black hole, dust can exist at $0.1$pc from the black hole, compared to 0.5pc outside of the disk. We construct a physical model of a disk region approximately located between the radius of dust sublimation at the disk mid-plane and the radius at which dust sublimes at the disk surface. Our main conclusion is that for a wide range of model parameters such as local accretion rate and/or opacity, the accretion disk's own radiation pressure on dust significantly influences its vertical structure. In addition to being highly convective, such a disk can transform from geometrically thin to slim. Our model fits into the narrative of a "failed wind" scenario of Czerny & Hryniewicz (2011) and the "compact torus" model of Baskin & Laor (2018), incorporating them as variations of the radiative dusty disk model.
Significant reservoirs of cool gas are observed in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) surrounding galaxies. The CGM is also found to contain substantial amounts of metals and dust, which require some transport mechanism. We consider AGN (active galactic nucleus) feedback-driven outflows based on radiation pressure on dust. Dusty gas is ejected when the central luminosity exceeds the effective Eddington luminosity for dust. We obtain that a higher dust-to-gas ratio leads to a lower critical luminosity, implying that the more dusty gas is more easily expelled. Dusty outflows can reach large radii w…
We present the first results from a mid-infrared survey of local Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) using the CanariCam (CC) instrument on the 10.4m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). We are obtaining sub-arcsecond angular resolution (0.3-0.6 arcsec) mid-IR imaging and spectroscopic observations of a sample of 100 local AGN, which are complemented with data taken with T-ReCS, VISIR, and Michelle. The full sample contains approximately 140 AGN, covers nearly six orders of magnitude in AGN luminosity, and includes low-luminosity AGN (LLAGN), Seyfert 1s and 2s, QSO, radio galaxies, and (U)LIRGs. The main …
Recent mid-infrared interferometry observations of nearby active galactic nuclei (AGN) revealed that a significant part of the dust emission extends in the polar direction, rather than the equatorial torus/disk direction as expected by the traditional unification model. We study the X-ray signatures of this polar dusty gas with ray-tracing simulations. Different from those from the ionized gas, the scattered emission from the polar dusty gas produces self-absorption and neutral-like fluorescence lines, which are potentially a unique probe of the kinematics of the polar dusty gas. The anomalous…
New populations of hyper-luminous, dust-obscured quasars have been recently discovered around the peak epoch of galaxy formation ($z \sim 2-3$), in addition to similar sources found at lower redshifts. Such dusty quasars are often interpreted as sources `in transition', from dust-enshrouded starbursts to unobscured luminous quasars, along the evolutionary sequence. Here we consider the role of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) radiative feedback, driven by radiation pressure on dust, in high-luminosity, dust-obscured sources. We analyse how the radiation pressure-driven dusty shell models, wit…
The detection of dusty winds dominating the infrared emission of AGN on parsec scales has revealed the limitations of traditional radiative transfer models based on a toroidal distribution of dusty gas. A new, more complex, dynamical structure is emerging and the physical origin of such dusty winds has to be critically assessed. We present a semi-analytical model to test the hypothesis of radiatively accelerated dusty winds launched by the AGN and by the heated dust itself. The model consists of an AGN and an infrared radiating dusty disk, the latter being the primary mass reservoir for the ou…
Radiation pressure-driven outflows from luminous accreting supermassive black holes are an important part of active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback. The effective Eddington limit, based on absorption of radiation by dust, not electron scattering, is revealed in the plane of AGN absorption column density $N_{\mathrm{H}}$ as a function of Eddington fraction $λ_{\mathrm{Edd}} = L_{\mathrm{bol}}/L_{\mathrm{Edd}}$, where a lack of objects is seen in the region where the effective limit is exceeded. Here, we conduct radiation simulation using the CLOUDY code to deduce the radiative force applied ont…
We explore the gas dynamics near the dust sublimation radius of active galactic nucleus (AGN). For the purpose, we perform axisymmetric radiation hydrodynamic simulations of a dusty gas disk of radius $\approx 1\,\mathrm{pc}$ around a supermassive black hole of mass $10^{7}\,\mathrm{M_{\odot}}$ taking into account (1) anisotropic radiation of accretion disk, (2) X-ray heating by corona, (3) radiative transfer of infrared (IR) photons reemitted by dust, (4) frequency dependency of direct and IR radiations, and (5) separate temperatures for gas and dust. As a result, we find that for Eddington r…
Context: Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are anisotropic objects surrounded by an optically thick equatorial medium whose true geometry still defy observers. Aims: In this paper, we aim to explore the optical, scattering-induced, polarization emerging from clumpy and warped dusty tori to check whether they can fit with the unified model predictions. Methods: We run polarized radiative transfer simulations in a set of warped and non warped clumpy tori to explore the differences induced by distorted dust distributions. We then include warped tori in a more complex model representative of an AGN to …
The differences between Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s) and Broad Line AGNs (BLAGNs) are not completely understood; it is thought that they may have different inclinations and/or physical characteristics. The FWHM(Hb)-luminosities correlations are found for NLS1s and their origin is the matter of debate. Here we investigated the spectroscopic parameters and their correlations considering a dusty, cone model of AGN. We apply a simple conical dust distribution (spreading out of broad line region, BLR), assuming that the observed surface of the model is in a good correlation with MIR emiss…
This letter presents a revised radiative transfer model for the infrared (IR) emission of active galactic nuclei (AGN). While current models assume that the IR is emitted from a dusty torus in the equatorial plane of the AGN, spatially resolved observations indicate that the majority of the IR emission from 100 pc in many AGN originates from the polar region, contradicting classical torus models. The new model CAT3D-WIND builds upon the suggestion that the dusty gas around the AGN consists of an inflowing disk and an outflowing wind. Here, it is demonstrated that (1) such disk+wind models cove…
We use the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to confirm a connection between dust-obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and galaxy merging. Using a new, volume-limited (z <= 0.08) catalog of visually-selected major mergers and galaxy-galaxy interactions from the SDSS, with stellar masses above 2x10^10 Msun, we find that major mergers (interactions) are 5-17 (3-5) times more likely to have red [3.4]-[4.6] colors associated with dust-obscured or `dusty' AGNs, compared to non-merging galaxies with similar masses. Using published fiber spectral dia…
We consider the impact of anisotropic radiation on the active galactic nucleus (AGN) radiative dusty feedback. The radiation pattern originating from the accretion disc is determined by the central black hole (BH) spin. Here we analyse how such BH spin-induced angular dependence affects the dynamics and energetics of the radiation pressure-driven outflows, as well as AGN obscuration and BH accretion. In addition, we explore the effect of a spatially varying dust-to-gas ratio on the outflow propagation. We obtain two distinct trends for high-spin and low-spin objects, providing a direct connect…
Recent observations which resolved the mid-infrared (MIR) emission of nearby active galactic nuclei (AGN), surprisingly revealed that their dust emission appears prominently extended in the polar direction, at odds with the expectations from the canonical dusty torus. This polar dust, tentatively associated with dusty winds driven by radiation pressure, is found to have a major contribution to the MIR flux from scales of a few to hundreds of parsecs. When facing a potential change of paradigm, case studies of objects with the best intrinsic resolution are essential. One such source with a clea…
We investigate the infrared contribution from supermassive black hole activity versus host galaxy emission in the mid to far-infrared (IR) spectrum for a large sample of X-ray bright active galactic nuclei (AGN) residing in dusty, star-forming host galaxies. We select 703 AGN with L_X = 10^42-46 ergs/s at 0.1 < z < 5 from the Chandra XBootes X-ray Survey with rich multi-band observations in the optical to far-IR. This is the largest sample to date of X-ray AGN with mid and far-IR detections that uses spectral energy distribution (SED) decomposition to determine intrinsic AGN and host galaxy in…
Recent high angular resolution observations resolved for the first time the mid-infrared (MIR) structure of nearby active galactic nuclei (AGN). Surprisingly, they revealed that a major fraction of their MIR emission comes from the polar regions. This is at odds with the expectation based on AGN unification, which postulates a dusty torus in the equatorial region. The nearby, archetypical AGN in the Circinus galaxy offers one of the best opportunities to study the MIR emission in greater detail. New, high quality MIR images obtained with the upgraded VISIR instrument at the Very Large Telescop…
We investigate a sample of 152 dusty sources at 1:5 < z < 2:5 to understand the connection of enhanced Star-Formation-Rate (SFR) and Black-Hole-Accretion-Rate (BHAR). The sources are Herschel-selected, having stellar masses M*>10^10Msun and SFR (100-1000Msun/yr) elevated(>4?) above the star-forming "main sequence", classifying them as Starbursts (SB). Through a multiwavelength fitting approach (including a dusty torus component), we divided the sample into active SBs (dominated by an AGN emission, SBs-AGN, ? 23% of the sample) and purely star-forming SBs (SBs-SFR). We visually inspected their …
The central engines of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) are powered by accreting supermassive black holes, and while AGNs are known to play an important role in galaxy evolution, the key physical processes occur on scales that are too small to be resolved spatially (aside from a few exceptional cases). Reverberation mapping is a powerful technique that overcomes this limitation by using echoes of light to determine the geometry and kinematics of the central regions. Variable ionizing radiation from close to the black hole drives correlated variability in surrounding gas/dust, but with a time dela…
The obscuring circumnuclear torus of dusty molecular gas is one of the major components of active galactic nuclei (AGN). The torus can be studied by analyzing the time response of its infrared (IR) dust emission to variations in the AGN continuum luminosity, a technique known as reverberation mapping. The IR response is the convolution of the AGN ultraviolet/optical light curve with a transfer function that contains information about the size, geometry, and structure of the torus. Here, we describe a new computer model that simulates the reverberation response of a clumpy torus. Given an input…
At distances from the active galaxy nucleus (AGN) where the ambient temperature falls below ~1500-1800 K, dust is able to survive. It is thus possible to have a large dusty structure present which surrounds the AGN. This is the first of two papers aiming at comparing six dusty torus models with available SEDs, namely Fritz et al. (2006), Nenkova et al. (2008B), Hoenig & Kishimoto (2010), Siebenmorgen et al. (2015), Stalevski et al. (2016), and Hoenig & Kishimoto (2017). In this first paper we use synthetic spectra to explore the discrimination between these models and under which circumstances…
Kinematic detection of dusty outflows from active galactic nuclei: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon kinematics of type 2 quasars with JWST/MIRI spectroscopy
University of California San Diego（加州大学圣地亚哥分校）；Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias（加那利天体物理研究所）；Universidad de La Laguna（拉古纳大学）；Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México（墨西哥国立自治大学）；CSIC（西班牙国家研究委员会）；CSIC–INTA（西班牙国家研究委员会-国家航空航天技术研究所）
The size and structure of the dusty circumnuclear torus in active galactic nuclei (AGN) can be investigated by analyzing the temporal response of the torus's infrared (IR) dust emission to variations in the AGN ultraviolet/optical luminosity. This method, reverberation mapping, is applicable over a wide redshift range, but the IR response is sensitive to several poorly constrained variables relating to the dust distribution and its illumination, complicating the interpretation of measured reverberation lags. We have used an enhanced version of our torus reverberation mapping code (TORMAC) to c…
Infrared interferometry of local AGN has revealed a warm (~300K-400K) polar dust structure that cannot be trivially explained by the putative dust torus of the unified model. This led to the development of the disk+wind scenario which comprises of a hot (~1000K) compact equatorial dust disk and a polar dust wind. This wind is assumed to be driven by radiation pressure and, therefore, we would expect that long term variation in radiation pressure would influence the dust distribution. In this paper we attempt to quantify if and how the dust distribution changes with radiation pressure. We analy…
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 ab…
What is the expected infrared output of elliptical galaxies? Here we report the latest findings obtained in this high time resolution (~10 years) and high spatial resolution (2.5 parsec at center) study. We add a set of grain physics to the MACER code, including (a) dust grains made in passive stellar evolution; (b) dust grain growth due to collision and sticking; (c) grain destruction due to thermal sputtering; (d) dust cooling of hot gas via inelastic collisions; and (e) radiation pressure on dust grains. The code improvements enable us to analyze the effects of dust on metal depletion and A…
Infrared observations of active galactic nucleus (AGN) reveal emission from the putative dusty circumnuclear 'torus' invoked by AGN unification, that is heated up by radiation from the central accreting black hole (BH). The strong 9.7 and 18 micron silicate features observed in the AGN spectra both in emission and absorption, further indicate the presence of such dusty environments. We present detailed calculations of the chemistry of silicate dust formation in AGN accretion disk winds. The winds considered herein are magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) winds driven off the entire accretion disk domain …
We investigated the emission of active galactic nuclei dusty tori in the infrared domain, with a focus on the 10 micron silicate feature. We modeled the dusty torus as a clumpy two-phase medium with high-density clumps and a low-density medium filling the space between the clumps. We employed a three-dimensional radiative transfer code to obtain spectral energy distributions and images of tori at different wavelengths. We calculated a grid of models for different parameters and analyzed the influence of these parameters on the shape of the mid-infrared emission. A corresponding set of clumps-o…
The formation processes and the exact appearance of the dust torus and broad line region (BLR) of active galactic nuclei (AGN) are under debate. Theoretical studies show a possible connection between the dust torus and BLR through a common origin in the accretion disk. However observationally the dust torus and BLR are typically studied separately. NGC~4151 is possibly one of the best suited Seyfert~1 galaxies for simultaneous examinations because of its high number of both photometric and spectroscopic observations in the past. Here we compare changes of the dust radius to shape variations of…
We describe a complete volume limited sample of nearby active galaxies selected by their 14-195keV luminosity, and outline its rationale for studying the mechanisms regulating gas inflow and outflow. We describe also a complementary sample of inactive galaxies, selected to match the AGN host galaxy properties. The active sample appears to have no bias in terms of AGN type, the only difference being the neutral absorbing column which is two orders of magnitude greater for the Seyfert 2s. In the luminosity range spanned by the sample, log L_{14-195keV} [erg/s] = 42.4-43.7, the optically obscured…
Galaxy clusters are the most massive collapsed structures in the universe whose potential wells are filled with hot, X-ray emitting intracluster medium. Observations however show that a significant number of clusters (the so-called cool-core clusters) also contain large amounts of cold gas in their centres, some of which is in the form of spatially extended filaments spanning scales of tens of kiloparsecs. These findings have raised questions about the origin of the cold gas, as well as its relationship with the central active galactic nucleus (AGN), whose feedback has been established as a ub…
Growing observational evidence confirms the existence of massive black holes ($M_{BH} \sim 10^9 M_{\odot}$), accreting at rates close to the Eddington limit, at very high redshifts ($z \gtrsim 6-7$) in the early Universe. Recent observations indicate that the host galaxies of the first quasars are chemically evolved systems, containing unexpectedly large amounts of dust. Such a combination of high luminosities and large dust content should form favourable physical conditions for radiative dusty feedback. We explore the impact of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback, driven by radiation p…
The advent of high-angular resolution IR and sub-mm interferometry allows for spatially-resolved observations of the parsec-scale environment of active galactic nuclei (AGN), commonly referred to as the "torus." While molecular lines show the presence of large, massive disks, the IR observations appear to be dominated by a strong polar component that has been interpreted as a dusty wind. This paper aims at using characteristics shared by AGN in each of the wavebands and a set of simple physical principles to form a unifying view of these seemingly contradictory observations: Dusty molecular ga…
Supermassive black holes (with $\mathrm{M_{BH} \sim 10^9 M_{\odot}}$) are observed in the first Gyr of the Universe, and their host galaxies are found to contain unexpectedly large amounts of dust and metals. In light of the two empirical facts, we explore the possibility of supercritical accretion and early black hole growth occurring in dusty environments. We generalise the concept of photon trapping to the case of dusty gas and analyse the physical conditions leading to dust photon trapping. Considering the parameter space dependence, we obtain that the dust photon trapping regime can be mo…
Most of the optically classified low ionisation narrow emission-line regions (LINERs) nuclei host an active galactic nuclei (AGN). However, how they fit into the unified model (UM) of AGN is still an open question. The aims of this work are to study at mid-infrared (mid-IR) (1) the Compton-thick nature of LINERs; and (2) the disappearance of the dusty torus in LINERs predicted from theoretical arguments. We have compiled all the available low spectral resolution mid-IR spectra of LINERs from the IRS/Spitzer (40 LINERs). We have complemented this sample with Spitzer/IRS spectra of PGQSOs, S1s, …
We report herschel observations of 100 very luminous, optically selected AGNs at z=2-3.5 with log(LUV)(erg/sec)> 46.5, where LUV=L1350A. The distribution in LUV is similar to the general distribution of SDSS AGNs in this redshift and luminosity interval. We measured SF luminosity, LSF, and SFR in 34 detected sources by fitting combined SF and WISE-based torus templates. We also obtained statistically significant stacks for the undetected sources in two luminosity groups. The sample properties are compared with those of very luminous AGNs at z>4.5. The main findings are: 1) The mean and the med…
Obscured AGNs provide an opportunity to study the material surrounding the central engine. Geometric and physical constraints on the absorber can be deduced from the reprocessed AGN emission. In particular, the obscuring gas may reprocess the nuclear X-ray emission producing a narrow Fe K$α$ line and a Compton reflection hump. In recent years, models of the X-ray reflection from an obscuring torus have been computed; however, although the reflecting gas may be dusty, the models do not yet take into account the effects of dust on the predicted spectrum. We study this problem by analyzing two se…
Active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback, driven by radiation pressure on dust, is an important mechanism for efficiently coupling the accreting black hole to the surrounding environment. Recent observations confirm that X-ray selected AGN samples respect the effective Eddington limit for dusty gas in the plane defined by the observed column density versus the Eddington ratio, the so-called $N_{\rm H} - λ$ plane. A `forbidden' region occurs in this plane, where obscuring clouds cannot be long-lived, due to the action of radiation pressure on dust. Here we compute the effective Eddington limit by…
Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are high luminosity sources powered by accretion of matter onto SMBHs located at the centres of galaxies. The SMBH is surrounded by a broad emission line region (BLR) and a dusty torus. It is difficult to study the extent of the dusty torus as the central region of AGN is not resolvable using any conventional imaging techniques available today. Though, current IR interferometric techniques could in principle resolve the torus in nearby AGN, it is very expensive and limited to few bright and nearby AGN. A more feasible alternative to the interferometric technique to…
This is the second in a series of papers devoted to explore a set of six dusty models of active galactic nuclei (AGN) with available spectral energy distributions (SEDs). These models are the smooth torus by Fritz et al. (2006), the clumpy torus by Nenkova et al. (2008B), the clumpy torus by Hoenig & Kishimoto (2010), the two phase torus by Siebenmorgen et al. (2015), the two phase torus by Stalevski et al. (2016), and the wind model by Hoenig & Kishimoto (2017). The first paper explores discrimination among models and the parameter restriction using synthetic spectra (Gonzalez-Martin et al. 2…
It is typically assumed that radiation pressure driven winds are accelerated to an asymptotic velocity of V ~ v_esc, where v_esc is the escape velocity from the central source. We note that this is not the case for dusty shells and clouds. Instead, if the shell or cloud is initially optically-thick to the UV emission from the source of luminosity L, then there is a significant boost in V that reflects the integral of the momentum absorbed as it is accelerated. For shells reaching a generalized Eddington limit, we show that V ~ (4R_UV L/M_sh c)^1/2, in both point-mass and isothermal-sphere pote…
We examine the robustness of the color-color selection of quiescent galaxies (QGs) against contamination of dusty star-forming galaxies using the latest submillimeter data. We selected 18,304 QG candidates out to $z\sim$ 3 using the commonly adopted $NUV-r-J$ selection based on the high-quality multi-wavelength COSMOS2015 catalog. Using extremely deep 450 and 850 $μ$m catalogs from the latest JCMT SCUBA-2 Large Programs, S2COSMOS, and STUDIES, as well as ALMA submillimeter, VLA 3 GHz, and $Spitzer$ MIPS 24 $μ$m catalogs, we identified luminous dusty star-forming galaxies among the QG candidate…
AGN Feedback and the Development of Dusty Multiphase Gas in X-ray Emitting Elliptical Galaxies
NASA - Ames Research Center（美国国家航空航天局艾姆斯研究中心）；Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Universita‘ di Bologna（博洛尼亚大学物理与天文学系）；Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - Istituto di Radioastronomia (IRA)（意大利国家天体物理学研究所无线电天文研究所）；University of California Observatories/Lick Observatory（加州大学观测站/利克天文台）；Bay Area Environmental Research Institute（湾区环境研究所）；Departamento de Física, Universidad de Santiago de Chile（智利圣地亚哥大学物理系）；Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Astrophysics and Space Exploration (CIRAS), Universidad de Santiago de Chile（智利圣地亚哥大学天体物理学与空间探索跨学科研究中心）；NASA Ames Research Center - Aviation Systems Division（美国国家航空航天局艾姆斯研究中心航空系统分部）；Crown Consulting, Inc（皇冠咨询公司）；Department of Physics, Informatics and Mathematics, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia（摩德纳和雷焦艾米利亚大学物理、信息学与数学系）
A striking excess of red quasars with steep radio spectral slopes: a dusty blow-out phase revealed through AGN-driven shocks?
Durham University（杜伦大学）；Newcastle University（纽卡斯尔大学）；European Southern Observatory（欧洲南方天文台）；Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics（莱布尼茨天体物理研究所）；Dartmouth College（达特茅斯学院）
I Zw 1 and H0557-385: The Dusty Tori of Two High Eddington AGNs Observed in the MATISSE LM-Bands
University of Southampton（南安普顿大学）；Université Côte d’Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Laboratoire Lagrange（蔚蓝海岸大学、蔚蓝海岸天文台、法国国家科学研究中心、拉格朗日实验室）；European Southern Observatory（欧洲南方天文台）；Kyoto Sangyo University（京都产业大学）
A Dusty Quenching-candidate AGN host at z=5.7: massive quiescent galaxies may quench already during the dust-obscured phase
University of Cambridge（剑桥大学）；University College London（伦敦大学学院）；University of Trieste（的里雅斯特大学）；National Astronomical Observatories (NAOC)（国家天文台）；University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学）；University of Groningen（格罗宁根大学）
We present a study of the complete ultraviolet to submillimetre spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of twelve 3CR radio galaxy hosts in the redshift range $1.0 < z < 2.5$, which were all detected in the far-infrared by the Herschel Space Observatory. The study employs the new spectro-chemical evolutionary code PÉGASE.3, in combination with recently published clumpy AGN torus models. We uncover the properties of the massive host galaxy stellar populations, the AGN torus luminosities, and the properties of the recent starbursts, which had earlier been inferred in these objects from their infrar…
The sample of 379 extragalactic sources is presented that have mid-infrared, high resolution spectroscopy with the Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) and also spectroscopy of the [CII] 158 um line with the Herschel Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS). The emission line profiles of [NeII] 12.81 um, [NeIII] 15.55 um, and [CII] 158 um are presented, and intrinsic line widths are determined (full width half maximum of Gaussian profiles after instrumental correction). All line profiles together with overlays comparing positions of PACS and IRS observations are made available in the …
Observational and theoretical arguments suggest that the momentum carried in mass outflows from AGN can reach several times L / c, corresponding to outflow rates of hundreds of solar masses per year. Radiation pressure on lines alone may not be sufficient to provide this momentum deposition, and the transfer of reprocessed IR radiation in dusty nuclear gas has been postulated to provide the extra enhancement. The efficacy of this mechanism, however, will be sensitive to multi-dimensional effects such as the tendency for the reprocessed radiation to preferentially escape along sight-lines of lo…
The primary source of emission of active galactic nuclei (AGN), the accretion disk, is surrounded by an optically and geometrically thick dusty structure ("the so-called dusty torus"). The infrared radiation emitted by the dust is nothing but a reprocessed fraction of the accretion disk emission, so the ratio of the torus to the AGN luminosity ($L_{\text{torus}}/L_{\text{AGN}}$) should correspond to the fraction of the sky obscured by dust, i.e. the covering factor. We undertook a critical investigation of the $L_{\text{torus}}/L_{\text{AGN}}$ as the dust covering factor proxy. Using state-of-…
