Infrared Interferometry and AGNs: Parsec-scale Disks and Dusty Outflows
  The "torus" is the central element of the most popular theory unifying
various classes of AGNs, but it is usually described as "putative" because it
has not been imaged yet. Since it is too small to be resolved with single-dish
telescopes, one can only make indirect assumptions about its structure using
models. Using infrared interferometry, however, we were able to resolve the
circum-nuclear dust distributions for several nearby AGNs and achieved
constraints on some further two dozen sources. We discovered circum-nuclear
dust on parsec scales in all sources and, in two nearby sources, were able to
dissect this dust into two distinct components. The compact component, a very
thin disk, appears to be connected to the maser disk and the extended one,
which is responsible for most of the mid-IR flux, is oriented perpendicularly
to the circum-nuclear gas disks. What may come as a surprise when having in
mind the standard unification cartoon actually connects well to observations on
larger scales. Optically thin dust in the polar region, perhaps driven by a
disk wind, could solve both the scale height problem of the torus and explain
the missing anisotropy in the mid-IR - X-ray relation.
