| Name | OT1_pgandhi_1 |
| Title | What inflates the torus? Probing the physical properties of geometrically-thick buried AGN with high J CO lines |
| URL | http://archives.esac.esa.int/hsa/whsa-tap-server/data?retrieval_type=OBSERVATION&observation_id=1342231277&instrument_name=PACS&product_level=LEVEL0&compress=true |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-h779jzv |
| Author | gandhi, p. |
| Description | The most significant new population of active galactic nuclei (AGN) discovered in recent years is the .buried AGN. population, uncovered by the Swift satellite. Sensitive X-ray spectroscopy shows characteristics of heavily obscured AGN in these sources, in addition to a very low scattering fraction of low energy photons, which is interpreted as a result of the AGN being buried in dust and gas tori which have an atypically high geometrical thickness. Comprising up to 20 per cent of the entire AGN population, this class constitutes a very important new family of sources, which may be at an interesting evolutionary phase in the AGN life cycle. Yet, very little is known about them, and usual isotropic indicators such as the optical OIII forbidden emission line fail to probe their intrinsic powers. The geometrically thick torus picture can result in 1) high gas and dust masses in the tori; 2) increased velocity dispersions and ^ated temperatures and pressures; 3) a broad-band spectral energy distribution dominated by cool optically-thick clouds. Far infrared lines provide excellent probes of the physical conditions in the torus, and we intend to use several high J rotational CO lines to test the above picture with Herschel for the first time on several buried AGN for which detailed X-ray spectroscopy exists. These observations will also enable us to search for dynamical signatures of motion in the torus. |
| Publication |
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| Instrument | PACS_PacsRangeSpec_point |
| Temporal Coverage | 2011-10-20T08:11:20Z/2012-02-21T00:03:49Z |
| Version | SPG v14.2.0 |
| Mission Description | Herschel was launched on 14 May 2009! It is the fourth cornerstone mission in the ESA science programme. With a 3.5 m Cassegrain telescope it is the largest space telescope ever launched. It is performing photometry and spectroscopy in approximately the 55-671 µm range, bridging the gap between earlier infrared space missions and groundbased facilities. |
| Creator Contact | https://support.cosmos.esa.int/h®erschel/ |
| Date Published | 2012-08-20T20:56:43Z |
| Keywords | Herschel, HSC, submillimetre, far-infrared, HIFI, PACS, SPIRE |
| Publisher And Registrant | European Space Agency |
| Credit Guidelines | European Space Agency, gandhi et al., 2012, 'What inflates the torusquestionMark Probing the physical properties of geometrically-thick buried AGN with high J CO lines', SPG v14.2.0, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-h779jzv |