THE RELATION BETWEEN BLACK HOLE MASS, BULGE MASS, AND NEAR-INFRARED LUMINOSITY

THE RELATION BETWEEN BLACK HOLE MASS, BULGE MASS, AND NEAR-INFRARED LUMINOSITY

11/12/01 | ALESSANDRO MARCONI¹ AND LESLIE K. HUNT²
This paper presents new accurate near-infrared (NIR) spheroid (bulge) structural parameters for all galaxies with a direct black hole (BH) mass determination. The study finds that NIR bulge luminosities (L_bul) and BH masses are tightly correlated. When considering only galaxies with secure BH mass measurements and accurate L_bul (27 objects), the spread of M_BH-L_bul is similar to M_BH-sigma_e, where sigma_e is the effective stellar velocity dispersion. The intrinsic rms scatter in log M_BH is approximately 0.3 dex. Combining bulge effective radii (R_e) measured in the analysis with sigma_e, a tight linear correlation is found between M_BH and the virial bulge mass (proportional to R_e sigma_e^2), with an average M_BH/M_bul ratio of ~0.002. A partial correlation analysis shows that M_BH depends on both sigma_e and R_e, and that both variables are necessary to drive the correlations between M_BH and other bulge properties. The study reexamines the M_BH-L_bul correlation by accurately measuring the bulge luminosity in the NIR for all galaxies with a well-determined M_BH. Previous studies used optical light to test the M_BH-L_bul relation, but NIR light provides a better tracer of stellar mass and is less affected by extinction. The study uses a two-dimensional (2D) bulge/disk decomposition to determine bulge parameters, an improvement over earlier 1D fits. The largest possible sample is constructed by considering all galaxies used for the M_BH-sigma_e and M_BH-L_B,bul correlations. The sample includes 37 galaxies with direct gas kinematical or stellar dynamical determination of the central BH mass. These galaxies are divided into two groups: Group 1 includes galaxies with secure BH mass measurements and accurate determination of the bulge NIR luminosity. Group 2 includes galaxies with uncertain measurements. The study finds that the intrinsic dispersion of the M_BH-L_bul correlation is ~0.3 dex, comparable to that of M_BH-sigma_e. The correlation between M_BH and M_bul has a slightly lower dispersion (0.25 vs. 0.3) than M_BH-L_bul. The study concludes that the correlation between M_BH and bulge mass is consistent with a direct proportionality, and that both sigma_e and R_e are necessary to drive the correlations between M_BH and other bulge properties. The average log M_BH/M_bul is estimated as -2.63 with an intrinsic dispersion of 0.27 dex.This paper presents new accurate near-infrared (NIR) spheroid (bulge) structural parameters for all galaxies with a direct black hole (BH) mass determination. The study finds that NIR bulge luminosities (L_bul) and BH masses are tightly correlated. When considering only galaxies with secure BH mass measurements and accurate L_bul (27 objects), the spread of M_BH-L_bul is similar to M_BH-sigma_e, where sigma_e is the effective stellar velocity dispersion. The intrinsic rms scatter in log M_BH is approximately 0.3 dex. Combining bulge effective radii (R_e) measured in the analysis with sigma_e, a tight linear correlation is found between M_BH and the virial bulge mass (proportional to R_e sigma_e^2), with an average M_BH/M_bul ratio of ~0.002. A partial correlation analysis shows that M_BH depends on both sigma_e and R_e, and that both variables are necessary to drive the correlations between M_BH and other bulge properties. The study reexamines the M_BH-L_bul correlation by accurately measuring the bulge luminosity in the NIR for all galaxies with a well-determined M_BH. Previous studies used optical light to test the M_BH-L_bul relation, but NIR light provides a better tracer of stellar mass and is less affected by extinction. The study uses a two-dimensional (2D) bulge/disk decomposition to determine bulge parameters, an improvement over earlier 1D fits. The largest possible sample is constructed by considering all galaxies used for the M_BH-sigma_e and M_BH-L_B,bul correlations. The sample includes 37 galaxies with direct gas kinematical or stellar dynamical determination of the central BH mass. These galaxies are divided into two groups: Group 1 includes galaxies with secure BH mass measurements and accurate determination of the bulge NIR luminosity. Group 2 includes galaxies with uncertain measurements. The study finds that the intrinsic dispersion of the M_BH-L_bul correlation is ~0.3 dex, comparable to that of M_BH-sigma_e. The correlation between M_BH and M_bul has a slightly lower dispersion (0.25 vs. 0.3) than M_BH-L_bul. The study concludes that the correlation between M_BH and bulge mass is consistent with a direct proportionality, and that both sigma_e and R_e are necessary to drive the correlations between M_BH and other bulge properties. The average log M_BH/M_bul is estimated as -2.63 with an intrinsic dispersion of 0.27 dex.
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