DEEP SILICATE ABSORPTION FEATURES IN COMPTON-THICK ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI PREDOMINANTLY ARISE DUE TO DUST IN THE HOST GALAXY
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
- Department of Physics, University of Durham, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom)
- Departamento de Astronomia y Astrofisica, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Casilla 306, Santiago 22 (Chile)
We explore the origin of mid-infrared (mid-IR) dust extinction in all 20 nearby (z < 0.05) bona fide Compton-thick (N{sub H} > 1.5 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 24} cm{sup -2}) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with hard energy (E > 10 keV) X-ray spectral measurements. We accurately measure the silicate absorption features at {lambda} {approx} 9.7 {mu}m in archival low-resolution (R {approx} 57-127) Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph spectroscopy, and show that only a minority ( Almost-Equal-To 45%) of nearby Compton-thick AGNs have strong Si-absorption features (S{sub 9.7} = ln (f{sub int}/f{sub obs}) {approx}> 0.5) which would indicate significant dust attenuation. The majority ( Almost-Equal-To 60%) are star formation dominated (AGN:SB < 0.5) at mid-IR wavelengths and lack the spectral signatures of AGN activity at optical wavelengths, most likely because the AGN emission lines are optically extinguished. Those Compton-thick AGNs hosted in low-inclination-angle galaxies exhibit a narrow range in Si-absorption (S{sub 9.7} {approx} 0-0.3), which is consistent with that predicted by clumpy-torus models. However, on the basis of the IR spectra and additional lines of evidence, we conclude that the dominant contribution to the observed mid-IR dust extinction is dust located in the host galaxy (i.e., due to disturbed morphologies, dust lanes, galaxy inclination angles) and not necessarily a compact obscuring torus surrounding the central engine.
- OSTI ID:
- 22039190
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 755, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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