AGN OBSCURATION THROUGH DUSTY, INFRARED-DOMINATED FLOWS. II. MULTIDIMENSIONAL, RADIATION-HYDRODYNAMICS MODELING

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal Vol. 747; no. 1; pp. 1 - 11
• Main Authors: DORODNITSYN, A, Kallman, T, Bisnovatyi-Kogan, G S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.03.2012
• Subjects: ACCELERATION; Active galactic nuclei; Approximation; APPROXIMATIONS; ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; BLACK HOLES; COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION; Conversion; COSMOLOGICAL MODELS; COSMOLOGY; DUSTS; External pressure; GALAXIES; HYDRODYNAMICS; ILLUMINANCE; Illumination; INFRARED RADIATION; LUMINOSITY; Mathematical analysis; Simulation; SOFT X RADIATION; TIME DEPENDENCE
• DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/747/1/8
• ISSN: 0004-637X

We explore a detailed model in which the active galactic nucleus (AGN) obscuration results from the extinction of AGN radiation in a global flow driven by the pressure of infrared radiation on dust grains. We assume that external illumination by UV and soft X-rays of the dusty gas located at approximately 1 pc away from the supermassive black hole is followed by a conversion of such radiation into IR. Using 2.5D, time-dependent radiation-hydrodynamics simulations in a flux-limited diffusion approximation we find that the external illumination can support a geometrically thick obscuration via outflows driven by infrared radiation pressure in AGN with luminosities greater than 0.05 L sub(edd) and Compton optical depth, [tau] sub(T) [> ~] 1.