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Paper: HYPERCAT- Hypercubes of AGN Tori
Volume: 522, Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XXVII
Page: 235
Authors: Nikutta, R.; Lopez-Rodriguez, E.; Ichikawa, K.; Levenson, N. A.; Packham, C.
Abstract: AGN unification requires that a dusty obscurer (torus) hides the central accretion engine along some lines of sight. Many observations support this picture. Models of torus spectral energy distributions (SED) have been exploited for a long time, but spatially resolved emission morphologies have so far been rarely studied. With CLUMPY, the most widely used radiative transfer code for AGN tori, we generate a large set of images and release it to facilitate studies by the AGN community of the resolved emission morphologies. This poses a significant computational enterprise, as a hypercube of images comprises 105 times more data than an equivalent set of SEDs. Its size overwhelms most users' personal computers, and the high entry barrier can discourage researchers from working with such datasets. We have developed together with the hypercube an intuitive software suite that removes most of these obstacles.
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