The Black Hole Mass vs Bulge Mass Relationship in Spiral Galaxies (original) (raw)
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Black Hole Mass Scaling Relations for Spiral Galaxies. I. M_ BH-M_ *,sph
2019
The (supermassive black hole mass, M_BH)-(bulge stellar mass, M_,sph) relation is, obviously, derived using two quantities. We endeavor to provide accurate values for the latter via detailed multicomponent galaxy decompositions for the current full sample of 43 spiral galaxies having directly measured M_BH values; 35 of these galaxies have been alleged to contain pseudobulges, 21 have water maser measurements, and three appear bulgeless. This more than doubles the previous sample size of spiral galaxies with a finessed image analysis. We have analyzed near-infrared images, accounting for not only the bulge, disk (exponential, truncated, or inclined), and bar but also for spiral arms and rings and additional central components (active galactic nuclei (AGNs), etc.). A symmetric Bayesian analysis finds (M_BH/M_)=(2.44_-0.31^+0.35){M_,sph/[υ(1.15×10^10 M_)]}+(7.24±0.12), with υ a stellar mass-to-light ratio term. The level of scatter equals that about the M_ BH-σ_* relation. The nonline...
2015
In this dissertation, I explore the geometric structure of spiral galaxies and how the visible structure can provide information about the central mass of a galaxy, the density of its galactic disk, and the hidden mass of the supermassive black hole in its nucleus. In order to quantitatively measure the logarithmic spiral pitch angle (a measurement of tightness of the winding) of galactic spiral arms, I led an effort in our research group (the Arkansas Galaxy Evolution Survey) to modify existing two-dimensional fast Fourier transform software to increase its efficacy and accuracy. Using this software, I was able to lead an effort to calculate a black hole mass function (BHMF) for spiral galaxies in our local Universe. This work effectively provides us with a census of local black holes and establishes an endpoint on the evolutionary history of the BHMF for spiral galaxies. Furthermore, my work has indicated a novel fundamental relationship between the pitch angle of a galaxy’s spira...
The Black Hole Mass Function Derived from Local Spiral Galaxies
We present our determination of the nuclear supermassive black hole mass (SMBH) function for spiral galaxies in the local universe, established from a volume-limited sample consisting of a statistically complete collection of the brightest spiral galaxies in the southern (δ < 0 • ) hemisphere. Our SMBH mass function agrees well at the high-mass end with previous values given in the literature. At the low-mass end, inconsistencies exist in previous works that still need to be resolved, but our work is more in line with expectations based on modeling of black hole evolution. This low-mass end of the spectrum is critical to our understanding of the mass function and evolution of black holes since the epoch of maximum quasar activity. A limiting luminosity (redshift-independent) distance, D L = 25.4 Mpc (z = 0.00572) and a limiting absolute B-band magnitude, M B = −19.12 define the sample. These limits define a sample of 140 spiral galaxies, with 128 measurable pitch angles to establish the pitch angle distribution for this sample. This pitch angle distribution function may be useful in the study of the morphology of late-type galaxies. We then use an established relationship between the logarithmic spiral arm pitch angle and the mass of the central SMBH in a host galaxy in order to estimate the mass of the 128 respective SMBHs in this volume-limited sample. This result effectively gives us the distribution of mass for SMBHs residing in spiral galaxies over a lookback time, t L ≤ 82.1 h −1 67.77 Myr and contained within a comoving volume, V C = 3.37 × 10 4 h −3 67.77 Mpc 3 . We estimate that the density of SMBHs residing in spiral galaxies in the local universe is ρ = 5.54 +6.55 −2.73 × 10 4 h 3 67.77 M ⊙ Mpc −3 . Thus, our derived cosmological SMBH mass density for spiral galaxies is Ω BH = 4.35 +5.14 −2.15 × 10 −7 h 67.77 . Assuming that black holes grow via baryonic accretion, we predict that 0.020 +0.023 −0.010 h 3 67.77 of the universal baryonic inventory (Ω BH /ω b ) is confined within nuclear SMBHs at the center of spiral galaxies.
The Black Hole–to–Bulge Mass Relation in Active Galactic Nuclei
The Astrophysical Journal, 1999
The masses of the central black holes in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) can be estimated using the broad emission-lines as a probe of the virial mass inside the BLR. Using reverberation mapping to determine the size of the Broad Line Region (BLR) and the width of the variable component of the line profile Hβ line it is possible to find quite accurate virial mass estimates for AGN with adequate data. Compiling a sample of AGN with reliable central masses and bulge magnitudes we find an average black hole to bulge mass ratio of 0.0003, a factor of 20 less than the value found for normal galaxies and for bright quasars. This lower ratio is more consistent with the black hole mass density predicted from quasar light, and agrees with the value found for our Galaxy. We argue that the black hole to bulge mass ratio actually has a significantly larger range than indicated by MBHs detected in normal galaxies (using stellar dynamics) and in bright quasars, which may be biased towards larger black holes , and derive a scenario of black hole growth that explains the observed distribution.
Mon Notic Roy Astron Soc, 2005
We present Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph emission-line spectra of the central regions of the spiral galaxies NGC 1300 and NGC 2748. From the derived kinematics of the nuclear gas we have found evidence for central supermassive black holes in both galaxies. The estimated mass of the black hole in NGC 1300 is 6.6 (+6.3, -3.2) x 10^7 solar masses and in NGC 2748 is 4.4 (+3.5, -3.6) x 10^7 solar masses (both at the 95% confidence level). These two black hole mass estimates contribute to the poorly sampled low-mass end of the nuclear black hole mass spectrum.
2016
New high resolution CFHT Fabry-Perot data, combined with published VLA 21 cm observations are used to determine the mass distribution of NGC 3109 and IC 2574. The multi-wavelength rotation curves allow to test with confidence different dark halo functional forms from the pseudo-isothermal sphere to some popular halo distributions motivated by CDM N-body simulations. It appears that the density distributions with high central concentration, predicted by these simulations, are very hard to reconcile with rotation curves of late type spirals. Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) is also considered as a potential solution to missing mass and tested the same way. Using the higher resolution Hα data, and new HI data for NGC 3109, one can see that MOND can reproduce in details the rotation curves of IC 2574 and NGC 3109. However, the value for the MOND universal constant is ∼2 times larger than the value found for more massive spirals.
The Astrophysical Journal
We present a detailed study of the nuclear star clusters (NSCs) and massive black holes (BHs) of four of the nearest low-mass early-type galaxies: M32, NGC 205, NGC 5102, and NGC 5206. We measure dynamical masses of both the BHs and NSCs in these galaxies using Gemini/NIFS or VLT/SINFONI stellar kinematics, Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging, and Jeans Anisotropic Models. We detect massive BHs in M32, NGC 5102, and NGC 5206, while in NGC 205, we find only an upper limit. These BH mass estimates are consistent with previous measurements in M32 and NGC 205, while those in NGC 5102 & NGC 5206 are estimated for the first time, and both found to be <10 6 M. This adds to just a handful of galaxies with dynamically measured sub-million M central BHs. Combining these BH detections with our recent work on NGC 404's BH, we find that 80% (4/5) of nearby, low-mass (10 9 − 10 10 M ; σ ∼ 20 − 70 km s −1) early-type galaxies host BHs. Such a high occupation fraction suggests the BH seeds formed in the early epoch of cosmic assembly likely resulted in abundant seeds, favoring a low-mass seed mechanism of the remnants, most likely from the first generation of massive stars. We find dynamical masses of the NSCs ranging from 2 − 73 × 10 6 M and compare these masses to scaling relations for NSCs based primarily on photometric mass estimates. Color gradients suggest younger stellar populations lie at the centers of the NSCs in three of the four galaxies (NGC 205, NGC 5102, and NGC 5206), while the morphology of two are complex and are best-fit with multiple morphological components (NGC 5102 and NGC 5206). The NSC kinematics show they are rotating, especially in M32 and NGC 5102 (V /σ ∼ 0.7).
A mass correlation of central black holes and their spheroids ∼ 0.002 (within a factor of three) is suggested by Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and various ground-based CCD photometries of early type galaxies. The near-IR images of quasar hosts and the emission line measurements of Broad Line Region for bright QSOs present a similar correlation, which supports the speculation of an evolutionary linkage between the early active QSO phase and the central black holes in normal galaxies. On the other hand, recent reverberation mapping of a sample of Seyferts shows a broad distribution of black hole to bulge mass ratio with a mean of ∼ 10 −3.5 , about one magnitude lower than the value in early type galaxies and bright QSOs. Adopting a simple unified formation scheme for QSOs and Seyferts, we will discuss in this letter the dependence of the black hole to bulge mass ratio in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) on the environmental parameters of the host galaxies. We show a broad distribution of the mass correlation could be due to different velocity dispersion of the accreting gas from different formation mechanism, and the mass ratio in normal galaxies and bright QSOs is probably a limit case of black hole evolution by merger enhanced accretion close to Eddington limit.
Supermassive black holes in the Sbc spiral galaxies NGC 3310, NGC 4303 and NGC 4258
Astronomy and Astrophysics, 2007
We have undertaken an HST Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph survey of 54 late type spiral galaxies to study the scaling relations between black holes and their host spheroids at the low mass end. Our aim is to measure black hole masses or to set upper limits for a sizeable sample of spiral galaxies. In this paper we present new Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) observations of three spiral galaxies, NGC 4303, NGC 3310 and NGC 4258. The bright optical emission lines Hα λ 6564Å, [NII] λλ 6549, 6585Å and [SII] λλ 6718, 6732Å were used to study the kinematics of the ionized gas in the nuclear region of each galaxy with a ∼ 0.07 ′′ spatial resolution. Our STIS data for NGC 4258 were analyzed in conjunction with archival ones to compare the gas kinematical estimate of the black hole mass with the accurate value from H 2 0-maser observations. In NGC 3310, the observed gas kinematics is well matched by a circularly rotating disk model but we are only able to set an upper limit to the BH mass which, taking into account the allowed disk inclinations, varies in the range 5.0 × 10 6 − 4.2 × 10 7 M ⊙ at the 95% confidence level. In NGC 4303 the kinematical data require the presence of a BH with mass M BH = (5.0) +0.87 −2.26 × 10 6 M ⊙ (for a disk inclination i = 70 deg) but the weak agreement between data and disk model does not allow us to consider this measurement completely reliable. If the allowed inclination values are taken into account, M BH varies in the range 6.0 × 10 5 − 1.6 × 10 7 M ⊙ at the 95% confidence level. In NGC 4258, the observed kinematics require the presence of a black hole with M BH = (7.9) +6.2 −3.5 × 10 7 M ⊙ (i = 60 deg) and, taking into account reasonable limits for the inclination, M BH is in the range 2.5 × 10 7 -2.6 × 10 8 M ⊙ at the 95% confidence level. This result is in good agreement with the published value (3.9 ± 0.1) × 10 7 M ⊙ , derived from H 2 O-maser observations. As in the case of NGC 4303, the agreement between observed and model kinematics is not strong but this does not affect the recovery of the correct M BH value. Our attempt at measuring BH masses in these 3 late type Sbc spiral galaxies has shown that these measurements are very challenging and at the limit of the highest spatial resolution currently available. Nonetheless our estimates are in good agreement with the scaling relations between black holes and their host spheroids suggesting that (i) they are reliable and (ii) black holes in spiral galaxies follows the same scaling relations as those in more massive early-type galaxies. A crucial test for the gas kinematical method, the correct recovery of the known BH mass in NGC 4258, has been successful.