The dust sublimation region of the Type 1 AGN NGC4151 at a hundred micro-arcsecond scale as resolved by the CHARA Array interferometer

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution near-infrared interferometry to resolve the dust sublimation region of NGC4151, revealing an elongated, ring-like structure consistent with equatorial dust distribution and discussing implications for AGN outflow geometries.

Contribution

First high-resolution interferometric imaging of NGC4151's dust sublimation region at micro-arcsecond scales, revealing its elongated, ring-like structure and orientation.

Findings

Resolved the dust sublimation region at 0.03 pc scale.

Found the structure is elongated perpendicular to the polar axis.

Suggested a ring-like dust distribution in the equatorial plane.

Abstract

The nuclear region of Type 1 AGNs has only been partially resolved so far in the near-infrared (IR) where we expect to see the dust sublimation region and the nucleus directly without obscuration. Here we present the near-IR interferometric observation of the brightest Type 1 AGN NGC4151 at long baselines of ~250 m using the CHARA Array, reaching structures at hundred micro-arcsecond scales. The squared visibilities decrease down to as low as ~0.25, definitely showing that the structure is resolved. Furthermore, combining with the previous visibility measurements at shorter baselines but at different position angles, we show that the structure is elongated *perpendicular* to the polar axis of the nucleus, as defined by optical polarization and a linear radio jet. A thin-ring fit gives a minor/major axis ratio of ~0.7 at a radius ~0.5 mas (~0.03 pc). This is consistent with the case where the sublimating dust grains are distributed preferentially in an equatorial plane in a ring-like geometry, viewed at an inclination angle of ~40 deg. Recent mid-IR interferometric finding of polar-elongated geometry at a pc scale, together with a larger-scale polar outflow as spectrally resolved by the HST, would generally suggest a dusty, conical and hollow outflow being launched presumably in the dust sublimation region. This might potentially lead to a polar-elongated morphology in the near-IR, as opposed to the results here. We discuss a possible scenario where an episodic, one-off anisotropic acceleration formed a polar-fast and equatorially-slow velocity distribution, having lead to an effectively flaring geometry as we observe.