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The handle http://hdl.handle.net/1887/38734 holds various files of this Leiden University dissertation
Author: López Gonzaga, Noel
Title: The structure of the dusty cores of active galactic nuclei Issue Date: 2016-04-12
The structure of the dusty cores of active galactic nuclei
Noel López Gonzaga
Cover: Acrylic paint representing the surrounding environment of a black hole (created by Fabian Oefner, http://fabianoefner.com/)
The structure of the dusty cores of active galactic nuclei
Proefschrift
ter verkrijging van
de graad van Doctor aan de Universiteit Leiden,
op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. mr. C. J. J. M Stolker, volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties
te verdedigen op dinsdag 12 april 2016 klokke 13.45 uur
door
Noel López Gonzaga
geboren op 11 july 1986 te Nezahualcoyotl, México
Promotor: Prof. dr. W. Jaffe
Co-promotor: Prof. dr. K. Meisenheimer Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
Overige leden: Prof. dr H. Rottgering Prof. dr B. Brandl Dr. E. M. Rossi
Prof. dr R. Morganti Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Prof. dr R. Petrov University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis
2016, Noel López Gonzagac PhD Thesis, Universiteit Leiden
This thesis was made possible thanks to the financial support of NWO, NOVA and CONACyT
To my beloved wife and to my parents.
i
Contents
Page
1 Introduction 1
1.1 A bit of history. . . . 1
1.2 The unified model of AGNs . . . . 2
1.3 Investigating the dusty environment . . . . 6
1.4 This Thesis . . . . 11
2 Revealing the large nuclear dust structures in NGC 1068 with MIDI/VLTI 13 2.1 Introduction. . . . 14
2.2 Previous infrared observations of the nucleus of NGC 1068 . . . . 15
2.3 The current observations . . . . 16
2.4 Results . . . . 19
2.5 Gaussian fits . . . . 27
2.6 Discussion . . . . 34
2.7 The energetics of the mid-infrared emission . . . . 38
2.8 The north/south asymmetry . . . . 41
2.9 Conclusions . . . . 42
2.10 Appendix . . . . 43
3 Mid-infrared interferometry of 23 AGN tori: On the significance of polar-elongated emission 49 3.1 Introduction. . . . 50
3.2 The AGN sample, observations, and data processing . . . . 51
3.3 Finding elongations . . . . 53
3.4 Results and discussion . . . . 57
3.5 Conclusions . . . . 66
4 Mid-infrared interferometry of Seyfert galaxies: Challenging the Standard Model 69 4.1 Introduction. . . . 70
Contents ii
4.2 Probabilistic approach . . . . 72
4.3 Observational data . . . . 73
4.4 Clumpy torus models . . . . 75
4.5 Description of the method . . . . 79
4.6 Results . . . . 81
4.7 Discussion . . . . 88
4.8 Conclusions . . . . 97
4.9 Appendix . . . 100
5 Properties of the dusty clouds of AGNs 107 5.1 Introduction. . . 108
5.2 Tracing the mid-infrared emission of Type I objects . . . 109
5.3 Results . . . 111
5.4 Discussion . . . 118
5.5 Conclusions . . . 123
6 The dormant mid-infrared environment of the Seyfert Type II NGC1068 125 6.1 Introduction. . . 126
6.2 Mid-infrared interferometric observations . . . 128
6.3 Results . . . 130
6.4 Conclusions . . . 134
6.5 Appendix . . . 134
7 Summary 137 7.1 Disk vs winds . . . 138
7.2 The standard AGN model in the era of high-resolution infrared obser- vations . . . 139
7.3 Dusty torus models . . . 140
Bibliography 141
Samenvatting 147
Resumen 151
Curriculum vitæ 155
List of Publications 157
Acknowledgements 159
