Silicate emission in a type-2 quasar: JWST/MIRI constraints on torus geometry and radiative feedback
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2025
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| author | Almeida, C. Ramos Ramos, A. Asensio Plaza, C. Westerdorp García-Bernete, I. Lopez-Rodriguez, E. Hönig, S. Audibert, A. García-Burillo, S. Pereira-Santaella, M. Donnan, F. Alonso-Herrero, A. González-Martín, O. Levenson, N. Rigopoulou, D. Tadhunter, C. Speranza, G. |
| author_facet | Almeida, C. Ramos Ramos, A. Asensio Plaza, C. Westerdorp García-Bernete, I. Lopez-Rodriguez, E. Hönig, S. Audibert, A. García-Burillo, S. Pereira-Santaella, M. Donnan, F. Alonso-Herrero, A. González-Martín, O. Levenson, N. Rigopoulou, D. Tadhunter, C. Speranza, G. |
| contents | Type-2 quasars (QSO2s) are AGN seen through a significant amount of dust and gas that obscures the central supermassive black hole and the broad line region. Despite this, recent mid-infrared spectra of the central 0.5-1.1 kpc of five QSO2s at z~0.1, obtained with the MRS module of JWST/MIRI, revealed 9.7, 18, and 23 micron silicate features in emission in two of them. This indicates that the high angular resolution of JWST/MIRI now allows us to peer into their nuclear region, exposing some of the directly illuminated dusty clouds that produce silicate emission. To test this, we fitted the nuclear mid-infrared spectrum of the QSO2 with the strongest silicate features, J1010, with two different sets of torus models implemented in an updated version of the Bayesian tool {\tt BayesClumpy}. These are the CLUMPY and the CAT3D-WIND models. The CAT3D-WIND model is preferred by the observations based on the marginal likelihood and fit residuals, although the two torus models successfully reproduce the spectrum by means of intermediate covering factors ($\rm C_T=0.45\pm^{0.26}_{0.18}$ and $\rm C_T=0.66\pm^{0.16}_{0.17}$ for the CLUMPY and CAT3D-WIND models) and low inclinations ($\rm i=50^\circ\pm^{8^\circ}_{9^\circ}$ and $\rm i=13^\circ\pm^{7^\circ}_{6^\circ}$). Indeed, four of the five QSO2s with JWST/MIRI observations, including J1010, are in the blowout or ''forbidden'' region of the Eddington ratio-column density diagram, indicating that they are actively clearing gas and dust from their nuclear regions, leading to reduced covering factors. This is in contrast with Seyfert 2 galaxies observed with JWST, which are in the ''permitted'' regions of the diagram and show 9.7 micron silicate features in absorption. This supports a scenario where the more luminous the AGN and the higher their Eddington ratio, the lower the torus covering factor, driven by radiation pressure on dusty gas. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_02629 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Silicate emission in a type-2 quasar: JWST/MIRI constraints on torus geometry and radiative feedback Almeida, C. Ramos Ramos, A. Asensio Plaza, C. Westerdorp García-Bernete, I. Lopez-Rodriguez, E. Hönig, S. Audibert, A. García-Burillo, S. Pereira-Santaella, M. Donnan, F. Alonso-Herrero, A. González-Martín, O. Levenson, N. Rigopoulou, D. Tadhunter, C. Speranza, G. Astrophysics of Galaxies Type-2 quasars (QSO2s) are AGN seen through a significant amount of dust and gas that obscures the central supermassive black hole and the broad line region. Despite this, recent mid-infrared spectra of the central 0.5-1.1 kpc of five QSO2s at z~0.1, obtained with the MRS module of JWST/MIRI, revealed 9.7, 18, and 23 micron silicate features in emission in two of them. This indicates that the high angular resolution of JWST/MIRI now allows us to peer into their nuclear region, exposing some of the directly illuminated dusty clouds that produce silicate emission. To test this, we fitted the nuclear mid-infrared spectrum of the QSO2 with the strongest silicate features, J1010, with two different sets of torus models implemented in an updated version of the Bayesian tool {\tt BayesClumpy}. These are the CLUMPY and the CAT3D-WIND models. The CAT3D-WIND model is preferred by the observations based on the marginal likelihood and fit residuals, although the two torus models successfully reproduce the spectrum by means of intermediate covering factors ($\rm C_T=0.45\pm^{0.26}_{0.18}$ and $\rm C_T=0.66\pm^{0.16}_{0.17}$ for the CLUMPY and CAT3D-WIND models) and low inclinations ($\rm i=50^\circ\pm^{8^\circ}_{9^\circ}$ and $\rm i=13^\circ\pm^{7^\circ}_{6^\circ}$). Indeed, four of the five QSO2s with JWST/MIRI observations, including J1010, are in the blowout or ''forbidden'' region of the Eddington ratio-column density diagram, indicating that they are actively clearing gas and dust from their nuclear regions, leading to reduced covering factors. This is in contrast with Seyfert 2 galaxies observed with JWST, which are in the ''permitted'' regions of the diagram and show 9.7 micron silicate features in absorption. This supports a scenario where the more luminous the AGN and the higher their Eddington ratio, the lower the torus covering factor, driven by radiation pressure on dusty gas. |
| title | Silicate emission in a type-2 quasar: JWST/MIRI constraints on torus geometry and radiative feedback |
| topic | Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.02629 |