The resolved size and structure of hot dust in the immediate vicinity of AGN
The resolved size and structure of hot dust in the immediate vicinity of AGN
We use VLTI/GRAVITY near-infrared interferometry measurements of eight bright type 1 AGN to study the size and structure of hot dust that is heated by the central engine. We partially resolve each source, and report Gaussian full width at half-maximum sizes in the range 0.3−0.8 mas. In all but one object, we find no evidence for significant elongation or asymmetry (closure phases ≲1°). The narrow range of measured angular sizes is expected given the similar optical flux of our targets, and implies an increasing effective physical radius with bolometric luminosity, as found from previous reverberation and interferometry measurements. The measured sizes for Seyfert galaxies are systematically larger than for the two quasars in our sample when measured relative to the previously reported R ∼ L1/2 relationship, which is explained by emission at the sublimation radius. This could be evidence of an evolving near-infrared emission region structure as a function of central luminosity.
Galaxies: Seyfert, Galaxies: active, Galaxies: nuclei, Quasars: general, Techniques: interferometric
Dexter, J.
57732356-ffc4-4e17-9bac-e208721eed50
Shangguan, J.
67b7af5b-2321-47bb-809d-f611ba02af7e
Hoenig, Sebastian
be0bb8bc-bdac-4442-8edc-f735834f3917
20 March 2020
Dexter, J.
57732356-ffc4-4e17-9bac-e208721eed50
Shangguan, J.
67b7af5b-2321-47bb-809d-f611ba02af7e
Hoenig, Sebastian
be0bb8bc-bdac-4442-8edc-f735834f3917
Dexter, J., Shangguan, J. and Hoenig, Sebastian
,
GRAVITY Collaboration
(2020)
The resolved size and structure of hot dust in the immediate vicinity of AGN.
Astronomy & Astrophysics, 635, [A92].
(doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201936767).
Abstract
We use VLTI/GRAVITY near-infrared interferometry measurements of eight bright type 1 AGN to study the size and structure of hot dust that is heated by the central engine. We partially resolve each source, and report Gaussian full width at half-maximum sizes in the range 0.3−0.8 mas. In all but one object, we find no evidence for significant elongation or asymmetry (closure phases ≲1°). The narrow range of measured angular sizes is expected given the similar optical flux of our targets, and implies an increasing effective physical radius with bolometric luminosity, as found from previous reverberation and interferometry measurements. The measured sizes for Seyfert galaxies are systematically larger than for the two quasars in our sample when measured relative to the previously reported R ∼ L1/2 relationship, which is explained by emission at the sublimation radius. This could be evidence of an evolving near-infrared emission region structure as a function of central luminosity.
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The resolved size and structure of hot dust
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Accepted/In Press date: 16 January 2020
Published date: 20 March 2020
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
Acknowledgements. J. D., M. B., and A. J. R. were supported by a Sofja Kovalevskaja award from the Alexander von Humboldt foundation and in part by NSF grant AST 1909711. SFH acknowledges support by the EU
Funding Information:
Horizon 2020 framework programme via the ERC Starting Grant DUST-IN-THE-WIND (ERC-2015-StG-677117). M. K. acknowledges support from JSPS (16H05731). F. E. and O. P. acknowledge support from ERC synergy grant No. 610058 (Black-HoleCam). A. A. and P. G. acknowledge funding from Fun-dação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia through grants UID/FIS/00099/2013 and SFRH/BSAB/142940/2018. P. O. P. acknowledges support from the Programme National Hautes Energies (PNHE) of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).
Publisher Copyright:
© GRAVITY Collaboration et al. 2020.
Keywords:
Galaxies: Seyfert, Galaxies: active, Galaxies: nuclei, Quasars: general, Techniques: interferometric
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 442604
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/442604
ISSN: 0004-6361
PURE UUID: 561da7d3-89c9-43c1-a129-ae1c9bac2b0c
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Date deposited: 21 Jul 2020 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 08:36
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Author:
J. Dexter
Author:
J. Shangguan
Corporate Author: GRAVITY Collaboration
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