Dust in active nuclei I. Evidence for "anomalous" properties

We present observational evidences that dust in the circumnuclear region of AGNs has different properties than in the Galactic diffuse interstellar me dium. By comparing the reddening of optical and infrared broad lines and th e X-ray absorbing column density we find that the EB-V/N-H ratio is nearly always lower than Galactic by a factor ranging from similar to3 up to simil ar to 100. Other observational results indicate that the A(V)/N-H ratio is significantly lower than Galactic in Various classes of AGNs including inte rmediate type 1.8-1.9 Seyferts, hard X-ray selected and radio selected quas ars, broad absorption line QSOs and grism selected QSOs. The lack of promin ent absorption features at 9.7 mum (silicates) and at 2175 Angstrom (carbon dip) in the spectra of Seyfert 2s and of reddened Seyfert Is, respectively , add further evidence for dust in the circumnuclear region of AGNs being; different from Galactic. These observational results indicate that the dust composition in the circumnuclear region of AGNs could be dominated by larg e grains, which make the extinction curve flatter. featureless and are resp onsible for the reduction of the EB-V/N-H and A(V)/N-H ratios. Regardless o f the physical origin of these phenomena, the reduced dust absorption with respect to what expected from the gaseous column density should mam about a mismatch between the optical and the X-ray classification of the active ga lactic nuclei in terms of their obscuration.