Combining Direct Black Hole Mass Measurements and Spatially Resolved Stellar Kinematics to Calibrate the M BH–σ ⋆ Relation of Active Galaxies
The origin of the tight scaling relation between the mass of supermassive black holes (SMBHs; M _BH ) and their host-galaxy properties remains unclear. Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) probe phases of ongoing SMBH growth and offer the only opportunity to measure M _BH beyond the local Universe. However...
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2024-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad9272 |
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| author | Nico Winkel Vardha N. Bennert Raymond P. Remigio Tommaso Treu Knud Jahnke Vivian U Aaron J. Barth Matthew Malkan Bernd Husemann Xuheng Ding Simon Birrer |
| author_facet | Nico Winkel Vardha N. Bennert Raymond P. Remigio Tommaso Treu Knud Jahnke Vivian U Aaron J. Barth Matthew Malkan Bernd Husemann Xuheng Ding Simon Birrer |
| author_sort | Nico Winkel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The origin of the tight scaling relation between the mass of supermassive black holes (SMBHs; M _BH ) and their host-galaxy properties remains unclear. Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) probe phases of ongoing SMBH growth and offer the only opportunity to measure M _BH beyond the local Universe. However, determining an AGN's host galaxy's stellar velocity dispersion, σ _⋆ , and its galaxy dynamical mass, M _dyn , is complicated by AGN contamination, aperture effects, and different host-galaxy morphologies. We select a sample of AGNs for which M _BH has been independently determined to high accuracy by state-of-the-art techniques: dynamical modeling of the reverberation signal and spatially resolving the broad-line region with the Very Large Telescope Interferometer/GRAVITY. Using integral-field spectroscopic observations, we spatially map the host-galaxy stellar kinematics across the galaxy and bulge effective radii. We find that the dynamically hot component of galaxy disks correlates with M _BH ; however, the correlations are tightest for aperture-integrated σ _⋆ measured across the bulge. Accounting for the different M _BH distributions, we demonstrate—for the first time—that AGNs follow the same M _BH – σ _⋆ and M _BH – M _bulge,dyn relations as quiescent galaxies. We confirm that the classical approach of determining the virial factor as a sample average, yielding $\mathrm{log}f=0.65\pm 0.18$ , is consistent with the average f from individual measurements. The similarity between the underlying scaling relations of AGNs and quiescent galaxies implies that the current AGN phase is too short to have altered black hole masses on a population level. These results strengthen the local calibration of f for measuring single-epoch M _BH in the distant Universe. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-308fd48b4ac145da8ad1e40cad579782 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-308fd48b4ac145da8ad1e40cad5797822024-12-30T06:43:57ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572024-01-01978111510.3847/1538-4357/ad9272Combining Direct Black Hole Mass Measurements and Spatially Resolved Stellar Kinematics to Calibrate the M BH–σ ⋆ Relation of Active GalaxiesNico Winkel0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9428-6238Vardha N. Bennert1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2064-0518Raymond P. Remigio2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0164-8795Tommaso Treu3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8460-0390Knud Jahnke4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3804-2137Vivian U5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1912-0024Aaron J. Barth6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3026-0562Matthew Malkan7https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6919-1237Bernd Husemann8https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2901-6842Xuheng Ding9https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8917-2148Simon Birrer10https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3195-5507Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie , Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany ; winkel@mpia.dePhysics Department, California Polytechnic State University , San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy, 4129 Frederick Reines Hall, University of California , Irvine, CA 92697, USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of California , Los Angeles, 430 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USAMax-Planck-Institut für Astronomie , Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany ; winkel@mpia.deDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, 4129 Frederick Reines Hall, University of California , Irvine, CA 92697, USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy, 4129 Frederick Reines Hall, University of California , Irvine, CA 92697, USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of California , Los Angeles, 430 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USAMax-Planck-Institut für Astronomie , Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany ; winkel@mpia.de; European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) , Eumetsat Allee 1, 64295 Darmstadt, GermanySchool of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, People's Republic of ChinaDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University , Stony Brook, NY 11794, USAThe origin of the tight scaling relation between the mass of supermassive black holes (SMBHs; M _BH ) and their host-galaxy properties remains unclear. Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) probe phases of ongoing SMBH growth and offer the only opportunity to measure M _BH beyond the local Universe. However, determining an AGN's host galaxy's stellar velocity dispersion, σ _⋆ , and its galaxy dynamical mass, M _dyn , is complicated by AGN contamination, aperture effects, and different host-galaxy morphologies. We select a sample of AGNs for which M _BH has been independently determined to high accuracy by state-of-the-art techniques: dynamical modeling of the reverberation signal and spatially resolving the broad-line region with the Very Large Telescope Interferometer/GRAVITY. Using integral-field spectroscopic observations, we spatially map the host-galaxy stellar kinematics across the galaxy and bulge effective radii. We find that the dynamically hot component of galaxy disks correlates with M _BH ; however, the correlations are tightest for aperture-integrated σ _⋆ measured across the bulge. Accounting for the different M _BH distributions, we demonstrate—for the first time—that AGNs follow the same M _BH – σ _⋆ and M _BH – M _bulge,dyn relations as quiescent galaxies. We confirm that the classical approach of determining the virial factor as a sample average, yielding $\mathrm{log}f=0.65\pm 0.18$ , is consistent with the average f from individual measurements. The similarity between the underlying scaling relations of AGNs and quiescent galaxies implies that the current AGN phase is too short to have altered black hole masses on a population level. These results strengthen the local calibration of f for measuring single-epoch M _BH in the distant Universe.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad9272AGN host galaxiesActive galaxiesSupermassive black holesScaling relationsSeyfert galaxiesBlack hole physics |
| spellingShingle | Nico Winkel Vardha N. Bennert Raymond P. Remigio Tommaso Treu Knud Jahnke Vivian U Aaron J. Barth Matthew Malkan Bernd Husemann Xuheng Ding Simon Birrer Combining Direct Black Hole Mass Measurements and Spatially Resolved Stellar Kinematics to Calibrate the M BH–σ ⋆ Relation of Active Galaxies The Astrophysical Journal AGN host galaxies Active galaxies Supermassive black holes Scaling relations Seyfert galaxies Black hole physics |
| title | Combining Direct Black Hole Mass Measurements and Spatially Resolved Stellar Kinematics to Calibrate the M BH–σ ⋆ Relation of Active Galaxies |
| title_full | Combining Direct Black Hole Mass Measurements and Spatially Resolved Stellar Kinematics to Calibrate the M BH–σ ⋆ Relation of Active Galaxies |
| title_fullStr | Combining Direct Black Hole Mass Measurements and Spatially Resolved Stellar Kinematics to Calibrate the M BH–σ ⋆ Relation of Active Galaxies |
| title_full_unstemmed | Combining Direct Black Hole Mass Measurements and Spatially Resolved Stellar Kinematics to Calibrate the M BH–σ ⋆ Relation of Active Galaxies |
| title_short | Combining Direct Black Hole Mass Measurements and Spatially Resolved Stellar Kinematics to Calibrate the M BH–σ ⋆ Relation of Active Galaxies |
| title_sort | combining direct black hole mass measurements and spatially resolved stellar kinematics to calibrate the m bh σ ⋆ relation of active galaxies |
| topic | AGN host galaxies Active galaxies Supermassive black holes Scaling relations Seyfert galaxies Black hole physics |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad9272 |
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