AGN: Accretion onto SMBH

Accretion Disk

“Torus” Obscurer

Galactic Center gas

Star forming regions

e.g. in spiral arms

First observational constraint:

- Column density

- Covering fraction

• Total growth over cosmic time? (z=0.5-3)
• Self-regulation?
• AGN-galaxy connection?
• …

• How is it stable and extended?
• Density? Substructure?
• Feeding of SMBH?

First observational constraint:

- Intrinsic accretion history

- Luminosity function