Modeling the Unresolved NIR–MIR SEDs of Local (z < 0.1) QSOs

To study the nuclear (≲1 kpc) dust of nearby (z < 0.1) quasi-stellar objects (QSOs), we obtained new near-infrared (NIR) high angular resolution (∼0.″3) photometry in the H and Ks bands for 13 QSOs with available mid-infrared (MIR) high angular resolution spectroscopy (∼7.5–13.5 μm). We find that in most QSOs, the NIR emission is unresolved. We subtract the contribution from the accretion disk, which decreases from NIR (∼35%) to MIR (∼2.4%). We also estimate these percentages assuming a bluer accretion disk and find that the contribution in the MIR is nearly seven times larger. We find that the majority of objects (64%, 9/13) are better fitted by the disk+wind H17 model, while others can be fitted by the smooth F06 (14%, 2/13), clumpy N08 (7%, 1/13), clumpy H10 (7%, 1/13), and two-phase media S16 (7%, 1/13) models. However, if we assume the bluer accretion disk, the models fit only 2/13 objects. We measured two NIR-to-MIR spectral indexes, α NIR−MIR(1.6–8.7 μm) and α NIR−MIR(2.2–8.7 μm), and two MIR spectral indexes, α MIR(7.8–9.8 μm) and α MIR(9.8–11.7 μm), from models and observations. From observations, we find that the NIR-to-MIR spectral indexes are ∼−1.1, and the MIR spectral indexes are ∼−0.3. Comparing the synthetic and observed values, we find that none of the models simultaneously match the measured NIR-to-MIR and 7.8–9.8 μm slopes. However, we note that measuring α MIR(7.8–9.8 μm) on the starburst-subtracted Spitzer/IRS spectrum gives values of the slopes (∼−2) that are similar to the synthetic values obtained from the models.

Probing Protoplanetary Disk Winds with C ii Absorption

We present an analysis of wind absorption in the C ii λ1335 doublet toward 40 classical T Tauri stars with archival far-ultraviolet (FUV) spectra obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope. Absorption features produced by fast or slow winds are commonly detected (36 out of 40 targets) in our sample. The wind velocity of the fast wind decreases with disk inclination, which is consistent with expectations for a collimated jet. Slow wind absorption is mostly detected in disks with intermediate or high inclination, without a significant dependence of wind velocity on disk inclination. Both the fast and slow wind absorption are preferentially detected in FUV lines of neutral or singly ionized atoms. The Mg ii λ λ2796, 2804 lines show wind absorption consistent with the absorption in the C ii lines. We develop simplified semi-analytical disk/wind models to interpret the observational disk wind absorption. Both fast and slow winds are consistent with expectations from a thermal-magnetized disk wind model and are generally inconsistent with a purely thermal wind. Both the models and the observational analysis indicate that wind absorption occurs preferentially from the inner disk, which offers a wind diagnostic in complement to optical forbidden line emission that traces the wind in larger volumes.