Resumen
In order to explain the differences observed between type 1 and type 2 AGN it has been proposed that an axially symmetric dusty structure (the torus) beyond the accretion disk absorbes a considerable fraction of the radiation emitted at wavelengths shorter than 1 micron (the AGN Unified Scheme). The dust in this torus typically reaches temperatures of a few hundred degrees and therefore its emission peaks somewhere at IR wavelengths. It is therefore in this wavelength regime that the torus can be detected. We performed imaging on 49 type 2 Seyfert galaxies in 6 near- and mid-infrared bands (1-10 microns). We separated the contribution of the torus from the host galaxy by radial profile fitting techniques and we are comparing the observed spectral energy distributions with theoretical models of torus emission to statistically constrain the geometrical and physical parameters.
