Seminar
Genuine spectral energy distribution of active galactic nuclei

Abstract

Spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of the central few tens of parsec region of some of the nearest active galactic nuclei (AGN) are presented. Peering into the nucleus at these scales, it is found that the intrinsic shape of the spectral energy distribution of an AGN and inferred bolometric luminosity largely depart from those currently on use, mostly extracted from low resolution data. The shape of the SED is different and the AGN luminosities can be overestimated by up to two orders of magnitude if relying on IR satellite data.
Although the shape of these SEDs are currently limited by the availability of high angular resolution data beyond ~20 μ, a prediction from this work is that a major contribution from cold dust below 100 K to these cores is not expected. Over the nine orders of magnitude in frequency covered by these SEDs, the power stored in the IR bump is by far the most energetic fraction of the total energy budget in these cores, accounting for more than 70% of the total.