Research report 2009 - Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy

Infrared Interferometry of Active Galactic Nuclei

Authors
Hönig, Sebastian; Hofmann, Karlheinz; Kishimoto, Makoto; Tristram, Konrad; Weigelt, Gerd
Departments

Infrarot-Astronomie (Prof. Dr. Gerd Weigelt)
MPI für Radioastronomie, Bonn

Summary
With the advancement of Infrared Interferometry it is now possible to directly observe and spatially resolve the dusty tori in active galaxies. These tori provide the dust and gas which is eventually accreted onto the supermassive black hole in the nucleus of the galaxy. It is now possible to study the structure and distribution of the matter in the torus in detail. This may lead to an improved understanding of the growth of supermassive black holes.

For the full text, see the German version.

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