A mid-infrared look at the dusty nuclear environments of local active galaxies

Active galactic nuclei are largely explained in the context of a unified theory, by which a geometrically and optically thick torus of gas and dust obscures the AGN central engine. The torus intercepts a substantial amount of flux from the central engine and and reradiates it in the infrared. There are still many open questions about the nature of the torus material and the role of nuclear (< 100 pc) starbursts in feeding and/or obscuring AGNs. Ground-based mid-infrared imaging and spectroscopy on 8-10m class telescopes allow us to study the dusty environments of nearby active galactic nuclei on physical scales of less than 100pc. In this talk I will present results from a mid-infrared sub-arcsecond resolution imaging and spectroscopy survey of a sample of local AGN. The observations were mostly taken with CanariCam on the 10.4m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) through an ESO/GTC large programme and the CanariCam AGN guaranteed time program. I will discuss results on the torus properties of different types of AGN from the modelling of the unresolved infrared emission with the CLUMPY torus models. I will also show that the molecules responsible for the 11.3micron PAH feature survive in the vicinity of the active nucleus and thus this PAH feature can be used to study the nuclear star formation activity in AGN.