Reprocessing of radiation by multi-phase gas in Low Luminosity Accretion Flows

Abstract

We discuss the role that magnetic fields in low luminosity accretion flows can play in creating and maintaining a multi-phase medium, and show that small magnetically-confined clouds or filaments of dense cold gas can dramatically reprocess the `primary' radiation from tori. In particular, radio emission would be suppressed by free-free absorption, and an extra (weak) component would appear at optical wavelengths. This is expected to be a common process in various environments in the central regions of Active Galaxies, such as broad line regions, accretion disk coronae and jets.