ISO Spectroscopy of Active Galactic Nuclei

scientific abstract we propose spectroscopic survey observations and individual line observations using lws, sws, and isophot designed to provide the first complete spectral characterization of agn in the 3200 micron region. the major goals of the program are to: a) distinguish between nonstellar engine and starburst origins of the luminosity in galactic nuclei (emission line ratios sensitive to density and excitation will identify all of the current classes of nuclear activity, discriminating between thermal and nonthermal models), b) measure the distribution and kinematics of nuclear gas and probe the dynamical geography of the nucleus via line profile shape analysis, c) study the nature and the origin of the coronal line emission region of agn, d) measure heavy element abundances in agn, e) determine accurately how dust obscures the intrinsic agn spectra, f) search for the postulated hidden blr in narrowline.. agns, g) search for molecules in thick tori (seyfert 2) and outer regions of accretion disks and study their kinematics at high spectral resolution, h) determine the importance of thermal and nonthermal emission for the continua of all classes of agns and the shape of the far infrared continuum turnover, and i) measure the detailed continuum energy distribution of agn, with emphasis on high z qsos for which we will address questions about the formation of heavy elements at very large z, the formation of galaxies and its relation with qsos, the structure and the energetics of host galaxies of qsos. observation summary this program includes observation of roughly 50 agn and qsos. the majority of agn will be spectroscopically surveyed using lws, sws, and isophot grating spectra; distant qsos will use phot22. all of the survey spectra will cover the full wavelength range at the full resolving power afforded by the grating subsystem of each instrument. full sws scans on ngc 1068 and ngc 4151 are om tr [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]