A dust condensation instability in AGN atmospheres: failed winds and the broad-line region

ABSTRACT Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are important drivers of galactic evolution; however, the underlying physical processes governing their properties remain uncertain. In particular, the specific cause for the generation of the broad-line region is unclear. There is a region where the underlying accretion disc atmosphere becomes cool enough for dust condensation. Using models of the disc’s vertical structure, accounting for dust condensation and irradiation from the central source, we show that their upper atmospheres become extended, dusty, and radiation-pressure-supported. Due to the density–temperature dependence of dust condensation, this extended atmosphere forms as the dust abundance slowly increases with height, resulting in density and temperature scale heights considerably larger than the gas pressure scale height. We show that such an atmospheric structure is linearly unstable. An increase in the gas density raises the dust sublimation temperature, leading to an increased dust abundance, a higher opacity, and hence a net vertical acceleration. Using localized 2D hydrodynamic simulations, we demonstrate the existence of our linear instability. In the non-linear state, the disc atmosphere evolves into ‘fountains’ of dusty material that are vertically launched by radiation pressure before being exposed to radiation from the central source, which sublimates the dust and shuts off the radiative acceleration. These dust-free clumps then evolve ballistically, continuing upward before falling back towards the disc under gravity. This clumpy ionized region has velocity dispersions $\gtrsim 1000$ km s$^{-1}$. This instability and our simulations are representative of the Failed Radiatively Accelerated Dusty Outflow (FRADO) model proposed for the AGN broad-line region.