ABSTRACT

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ABSTRACT: There is strong evidence that most or all AGN are surrounded by geometrically thick dusty tori, and the connection with the Circum- Nuclear Disk was made almost immediately after this discovery. We now have X-ray columns from sight lines to many such AGN, and mm interferometers are just attaining the resolution and sensitivity to map the tori. The high densities and temperatures make them very strong HCN emitters. Through the flux and angular size magnification of gravitational lensing, similar tori are being detected and mapped in luminous AGN at high redshift. Finally, the GC "broad emission line region," and a class of "micro Seyfert" BLRs, are noted to differ qualitatively from Seyferts and quasars, as revealed by their lack of variability.