Bibcode
Fuller, L.; Lopez-Rodriguez, E.; Packham, C.; Ramos-Almeida, C.; Alonso-Herrero, A.; Levenson, N. A.; Radomski, J.; Ichikawa, K.; García-Bernete, I.; González-Martín, O.; Díaz-Santos, T.; Martínez-Paredes, M.
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 462, Issue 3, p.2618-2630
Advertised on:
11
2016
Citations
24
Refereed citations
24
Description
We present 31.5 μm imaging photometry of 11 nearby Seyfert galaxies
observed from the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy
(SOFIA) using the Faint Object infraRed CAmera for the SOFIA Telescope
(FORCAST). We tentatively detect extended 31 μm emission for the
first time in our sample. In combination with this new data set,
subarcsecond resolution 1-18 μm imaging and 7.5-13 μm
spectroscopic observations were used to compute the nuclear spectral
energy distribution (SED) of each galaxy. We found that the turnover of
the torus emission does not occur at wavelengths ≤31.5 μm, which
we interpret as a lower-limit for the wavelength of peak emission. We
used CLUMPY torus models to fit the nuclear infrared (IR) SED and infer
trends in the physical parameters of the AGN torus for the galaxies in
the sample. Including the 31.5 μm nuclear flux in the SED (1) reduces
the number of clumpy torus models compatible with the data, and (2)
modifies the model output for the outer radial extent of the torus for
10 of the 11 objects. Specifically, six (60 per cent) objects show a
decrease in radial extent while four (40 per cent) show an increase. We
find torus outer radii ranging from <1 to 8.4 pc.