An original interferometric study of NGC 1068 with VISIR BURST mode images

TL;DR

This study uses VISIR BURST mode imaging and interferometry to resolve and analyze the dust structures around NGC 1068's core, revealing a compact dusty torus and extended emission components, crucial for understanding AGN mid-infrared emission sources.

Contribution

First combined speckle processing of VISIR BURST images with MIDI interferometry data to analyze dust structures in NGC 1068 at multiple scales.

Findings

Identified a compact dusty torus < 85 mas in size.

Detected an elliptical extended emission component.

Found that the dusty torus contributes about 83% of the MIR flux seen by MIDI.

Abstract

We present 12.8 microns images of the core of NGC 1068 obtained with the BURST mode of the VLT/VISIR. We trace structures under the diffraction limit of one UT and we investigate the link between dust in the vicinity of the central engine of NGC 1068, recently resolved by interferometry with MIDI, and more extended structures. This step is mandatory for a multi-scale understanding of the sources of mid-infrared emission in AGNs. A speckle processing of VISIR BURST mode images was performed to extract very low spatial-frequency visibilities, first considering the full field of VISIR BURST mode images and then limiting it to the mask used for the acquisition of MIDI data. Extracted visibilities are reproduced with a multi-component model. We identify two major sources of emission: one compact < 85 mas, associated with the dusty torus, and an elliptical one, (< 140) mas x 1187 mas at P.A.=-4 degrees from N to E. This is consistent with previous deconvolution processes. The combination with MIDI data reveals the close environment of the dusty torus to contribute to about 83 percent of the MIR flux seen by MIDI. This strong contribution has to be considered in modeling long baseline interferometric data. It must be related to the NS elongated component which is thought to originate from individually unresolved dusty clouds and is located inside the ionization cone. Low temperatures of the dusty torus are not challenged, emphasizing the scenarios of clumpy torus.