2006A&A...457L..17H -
Astronomy and Astrophysics, volume 457, L17-20 (2006/10-2)
The small dispersion of the mid IR - hard X-ray correlation in active galactic nuclei.
HORST H., SMETTE A., GANDHI P. and DUSCHL W.J.
Abstract (from CDS):
We investigate mid-infrared and X-ray properties of the dusty torus in unification scenarios for active galactic nuclei. We use the relation between mid IR and hard X-ray luminosities to constrain AGN unification scenarios. With VISIR at the VLT, we have obtained the currently highest angular resolution (0.35" FWHM) narrow-band mid infrared images of the nuclei of 8 nearby Seyfert galaxies. Combining these observations with X-ray data from the literature we study the correlation between their mid IR and hard X-ray luminosities. We find that the rest frame 12.3µm (LMIR) and 2-10keV (LX) luminosities are correlated at a highly significant level. The best fit power-law to our data is logLMIR∝(1.60±0.22)logLX, showing a much smaller dispersion than earlier studies. The similarity in the logLMIR/logLX ratio between Sy1s and Sy2s even using high angular resolution MIR data implies that the similarity is intrinsic to AGN and not caused by contamination from extra-nuclear emission. This supports clumpy torus models. The exponent of the correlation constrains the inner geometry of the torus.
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Journal keyword(s):
galaxies: active - infrared: galaxies - X-rays: galaxies
Simbad objects:
8
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