IR And X-ray Tests Of The Clumpy Torus Models Of AGN

Packham, Christopher C.; Levenson, N.; Ramos Almeida, C.; Radomski, J.; Alonso-Herrero, A.; Rodríguez Espinosa, J.; Asensio Ramos, A.; Mason, R.; Fisher, S.; Telesco, C.; Schaefer, J.
Bibliographical reference

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #215, #411.17; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.242

Advertised on:
1
2010
Number of authors
11
IAC number of authors
0
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
On-going explorations of AGN based at mid-IR wavelengths has tightly constrained individual torus sizes to a few pc and found that spectral fitting in the N band window is consistent with toroidal obscuration at the center of AGN in a non-homogenous or `clumpy’ structure. We discuss results of two recent papers where we combine our mid-IR data with data at other wavelengths to further constrain the torus size and structure. In the first paper, we combine archival high spatial resolution near-IR data with our mid-IR observations to construct an IR SED, which is then fit to the clump torus model. In the second paper we construct at optimal spatial resolution a mid-IR to x-ray correlation, comparing carefully the AGN types. We discuss the implications to models of the AGN torus.