Bibcode
Lopez-Rodriguez, E.; Packham, C.; Jones, T. J.; Nikutta, R.; McMaster, L.; Mason, R. E.; Elvis, M.; Shenoy, D.; Alonso-Herrero, A.; Ramírez, E.; González Martín, O.; Hönig, S. F.; Levenson, N. A.; Ramos Almeida, C.; Perlman, E.
Referencia bibliográfica
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 452, Issue 2, p.1902-1913
Fecha de publicación:
9
2015
Número de citas
27
Número de citas referidas
24
Descripción
We present J' and K' imaging linear polarimetric adaptive optics
observations of NGC 1068 using MMT-Pol on the 6.5-m MMT. These
observations allow us to study the torus from a magnetohydrodynamical
(MHD) framework. In a 0.5 arcsec (30 pc) aperture at K', we find that
polarization arising from the passage of radiation from the inner edge
of the torus through magnetically aligned dust grains in the clumps is
the dominant polarization mechanism, with an intrinsic polarization of
7.0 ± 2.2 per cent. This result yields a torus magnetic field
strength in the range of 4-82 mG through paramagnetic alignment, and
139^{+11}_{-20} mG through the Chandrasekhar-Fermi method. The measured
position angle (P.A.) of polarization at K' is found to be similar to
the P.A. of the obscuring dusty component at few parsec scales using
infrared interferometric techniques. We show that the constant component
of the magnetic field is responsible for the alignment of the dust
grains, and aligned with the torus axis on to the plane of the sky.
Adopting this magnetic field configuration and the physical conditions
of the clumps in the MHD outflow wind model, we estimate a mass outflow
rate ≤0.17 M⊙ yr-1 at 0.4 pc from the
central engine for those clumps showing near-infrared dichroism. The
models used were able to create the torus in a time-scale of
≥105 yr with a rotational velocity of ≤1228 km
s-1 at 0.4 pc. We conclude that the evolution, morphology and
kinematics of the torus in NGC 1068 can be explained within a MHD
framework.
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