Extinction curves in AGN

Abstract

The presence of the dust in the circumnuclear region strongly affects our view of the nucleus itself. The effect is strong in type 2 objects but weaker effect is likely to be present in type 1 objects as well. In these objects a correction to the observed optical/UV spectrum must be done in order to recover the intrinsic spectrum of a nucleus. The approach based on the extinction curve is convenient for that purpose so significant effort has been recently done in order to determine the extinction curve for the circumnuclear material. It seems clear that the circumnuclear dust is different from the average properties of the dust in the Interstellar Medium in our galaxy: the well known 2175 A feature is weak or absent in AGN nuclear dust, and the extinction curve at shorter wavelength does not seem to be rising as steeply. The circumnuclear dust is therefore more similar to SMC dust, or more likely, to the dust in very dense molecular clouds in our Galaxy. However, the exact shape of the extinction curve in the far UV is still a matter of debate, and various effects are difficult to disentangle.