Testing the Geometry of AGN Tori through the Fraction of Optically-Selected Type 1 AGNs

According to the unified model of AGNs, type 1 and 2 AGNs are intrinsically the same objects but seem different due to an obscuring matter which can block lights from the central engine of the AGN depending on the viewing angle. The obscuring object is thought to be shaped in a toroidal form and thus the geometry of tori of AGNs is an important factor to determine the fraction of type 1 (or type 2) AGNs. Oh et al. (2015) provides a new catalog of type 1 AGNs from SDSS DR7 in the nearby universe (z < 0.2) and it contains nearly 50% more type 1 AGNs than previously known. Using this new catalog, we test the fraction of type 1 AGNs along the black hole mass (MBH) and the bolometric luminosity of AGNs (Lbol), which are regarded as key parameters of the AGNs. First of all, because the methods to derive the black hole mass and the bolometric luminosity bear uncertainties, we test how the different methods lead to different values of type 1 fraction. We found that the fraction of type 1 AGNs varies with both MBH and Lbol. The extensively-studied, "receding torus model" can only explain the trend along Lbol and hence fails to explain the trend. To understand the new trend, we test the geometry of the torus based on the "clumpy torus model". We present our results on the basic properties of the torus such as a column density or opening angle and compare with those from previous studies based on other wavelengths (e.g. Infrared or X-ray).