Related papers: Unification Issues and the AGN Torus

We analyze HST spectra and Chandra observations of a sample of 21 LINERs, at least 18 of which genuine AGN. We find a correlation between the X-rays and emission lines luminosities, extending over three orders of magnitude and with a…

High cadence, high quality observations of active galactic nuclei (AGN) clearly show continuum variations with lags, relative to the shortest observed variable UV continuum, that increase with wavelength ("lag spectra"). These have been…

This work focuses on the properties of dusty tori in active galactic nuclei (AGN) derived from the comparison of SDSS type 1 quasars with mid-Infrared (MIR) counterparts and a new, detailed torus model. The infrared data were taken by the…

Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are perfect laboratories to check General Relativity (GR) effects by using Broad Line Region (BLR) clouds eclipses to probe the innermost regions of the accretion disk. A new relativistic X-ray spectral model…

(Abridged) We investigate the observational characteristics of BLR geometries in which the BLR clouds bridge the gap, both in distance and scale height, between the outer accretion disc and the hot dust, forming an effective surface of a…

The reflection spectrum of the torus around AGN is characterized by X-ray fluorescent lines, which are most prominent for type II AGN. A clumpy torus allows photons reflected from the back-side of the torus to leak through the front…

The inner structure of AGNs is expected to change below a certain luminosity limit. The big blue bump, footprint of the accretion disk, is absent for the majority of low-luminosity AGNs (LLAGNs). Moreover, recent simulations suggest that…

We have developed the dynamical model of a clumpy torus in an active galactic nucleus (AGN) and compared to recent ALMA observations. We present $N$-body simulations of a torus in the field of a supermassive black hole (SMBH), made of up to…

Variable X-ray absorption has been observed in active galactic nuclei (AGN) on several time scales. Observations allow us to identify the absorber with clouds associated either with the clumpy torus (parsec scales, long timescales) or with…

(abridged)The majority of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) suffer from significant obscuration by surrounding dust and gas. X-ray surveys in the 2-10 keV band will miss the most heavily-obscured AGN in which the absorbing column density exceeds…

We report the discovery of two sources at z=3.867 and z=3.427 that exhibit powerful starburst and AGN activities. They benefit from data from radio to X rays from the CFHTLS-D1/SWIRE/XMDS surveys. Follow-up optical and near-infrared…

We combine near-to-mid-IR Spitzer data with shorter wavelength observations (optical to X-rays) to get insights on the properties of a sample of luminous, obscured Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). We aim at modeling their broad-band Spectral…

We show that the recently observed suppression of the gap between the broad line region (BLR) and the narrow line region (NLR) in some AGN can be fully explained by an increase of the gas density in the emitting region. Our model predicts…

We present infrared, optical, and X-ray data of 48 X-ray bright, optically dull AGNs in the COSMOS field. These objects exhibit the X-ray luminosity of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) but lack broad and narrow emission lines in their…

(abridged) It is generally assumed that the distribution of dust on parsec scales forms a geometrically- and optically-thick entity in the equatorial plane around the accretion disk and broad-line region - dubbed "dust torus" - that emits…

We present a broadband X-ray spectral analysis of the M51 system, including the dual active galactic nuclei (AGN) and several off-nuclear point sources. Using a deep observation by NuSTAR, new high-resolution coverage of M51b by Chandra,…

In some AGN, nuclear dust lanes connected to kpc-scale dust structures provide all the extinction required to obscure the nucleus, challenging the role of the dusty torus proposed by the Unified Model. In this letter we show the pc-scale…

We perform a systematic X-ray spectroscopic analysis of 57 local ultra/luminous infrared galaxy systems (containing 84 individual galaxies) observed with Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array and/or Swift/BAT. Combining soft X-ray data…

The strong broad emission lines in the optical and UV spectra of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are important for several reasons. Not only do they give us information about the structure of the AGN, their properties are now used to estimate…

We present the measurement of the line-of-sight extinction of the dusty torus for a large number of obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs) based on the reddening of the colour of the variable flux component in near-infrared (NIR)…