Dusty winds in active galactic nuclei: reconciling observations with
  models
  This letter presents a revised radiative transfer model for the infrared (IR)
emission of active galactic nuclei (AGN). While current models assume that the
IR is emitted from a dusty torus in the equatorial plane of the AGN, spatially
resolved observations indicate that the majority of the IR emission from 100 pc
in many AGN originates from the polar region, contradicting classical torus
models. The new model CAT3D-WIND builds upon the suggestion that the dusty gas
around the AGN consists of an inflowing disk and an outflowing wind. Here, it
is demonstrated that (1) such disk+wind models cover overall a similar
parameter range of observed spectral features in the IR as classical clumpy
torus models, e.g. the silicate feature strengths and mid-IR spectral slopes,
(2) they reproduce the 3-5{\mu}m bump observed in many type 1 AGN unlike torus
models, and (3) they are able to explain polar emission features seen in IR
interferometry, even for type 1 AGN at relatively low inclination, as
demonstrated for NGC3783. These characteristics make it possible to reconcile
radiative transfer models with observations and provide further evidence of a
two-component parsec-scaled dusty medium around AGN: the disk gives rise to the
3-5{\mu}m near-IR component, while the wind produces the mid-IR emission. The
model SEDs will be made available for download.
