VLTI/MIDI and VLT/VISIR challenge the traditional paradigm of dust in active galactic nuclei

VLTI/MIDI revealed that mid-infrared (MIR) emission in active galactic nuclei (AGN) on parsec-scale originates preferentially from the polar region, which should be free of dust according to the standard model. VLT/VISIR showed that MIR emission follows the same trend on the scales of tens to hundreds of parsecs. In the newly emerging paradigm, this emission is attributed to the dusty winds driven away by the radiation pressure. When facing such a potential game-changing moment, detailed case studies are of great importance. One such object is an archetypal obscured AGN in the Circinus galaxy. We proposed a model in which dust in this source is found in a compact thin disk and in a polar outflow shaped like hollow cone. Using radiative transfer simulations we produced synthetic observations of our model for MIDI and VISIR and found that it can explain the morphology on all scales and the entire MIR SED. These findings warrant further investigation of the IR thermal emission of AGN.