Program: GS-2009A-Q-34

We propose to use the Gemini Mid-IR spatial resolution to obtain unique T-ReCS LowN long-slit spectroscopy of the galaxies NGC1808 and NGC5728 to study the nature and distribution of the dust material associated with the inner regions of the objects, in order to isolate the AGN emission from the host galaxy contamination. The selected objects are near enough to obtain, for the first time, Mid-IR 1D spectra with spatial resolution lower than 70 pc and enough off-nucleus signal to allow for a proper evaluation of the host galaxy contribution in the central region. The AGN uncontaminated Mid-IR 1D spectra will be compared with new theoretical spectral energy distribution (SED) of torus models obtained with the radiative transfer code, HDUST. The code can treat very general dust models that includes mixtures of different grain compositions and sizes and very general geometries for the dust+gas distribution. Therefore will help to better underestand physical and chemical properties of the torus required by the AGN unified models, such as: geometry, size, distribution and characteristics of the dust grains.