Supermassive Black Holes in Active Galactic Nuclei. II. Calibration of the Black Hole Mass–Velocity Dispersion Relationship for Active Galactic Nuclei

Onken, Christopher A.; Ferrarese, Laura; Merritt, David; Peterson, B. M.; Pogge, Richard W.; Vestergaard, M.; Wandel, Amri

doi:10.1086/424655

Cited by 625 publications

(963 citation statements)

References 43 publications

(41 reference statements)

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“…Given the size of the broad line region and its velocity, mass is given by the virial theorem M B H = fR B LR v 2 f w hm (f represents the unknown BLR geometry and v f w hm is the velocity width of the broad emission line). In general, masses estimated from the scaling relations are accurate to ∼ 0.4 dex (Vestergaard et al 2006, Shen et al 2008 and agree with local AGN masses from dynamical estimators (Davies et al 2006, Onken et al 2007 and the M B H -σ * correlation (Onken et al 2004, Greene et al 2006. Together the mass and the intrinsic accretion luminosity L I can be used to describe the fueling rate of an AGN in terms of the Eddington ratio, L I /L E dd , where L E dd = 1.26 × 10 38 (M/M ) erg s −1 .…”

Section: Black Hole Masses and Accretion Limitssupporting

confidence: 70%

AGN and Host Galaxies in the COSMOS Survey

2010

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Abstract. The Cosmological Evolution Survey (COSMOS) is a unique tool for studying low level AGN activity and the co-evolution of galaxies and supermassive black holes. COSMOS involves the largest contiguous region of the sky ever imaged by HST; it includes very complete multiwavelength coverage, and the largest joint samples of galaxy and AGN redshifts in any deep survey. The result is a search for AGN with low black hole mass, low accretion rates, and levels of obscuration that can remove them from optical surveys. A complete census of intermediate mass black holes at redshifts of 1 to 3 is required to tell the story of the co-evolution of galaxies and their embedded, and episodically active, black holes.

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Section: Black Hole Masses and Accretion Limitssupporting

confidence: 70%

AGN and Host Galaxies in the COSMOS Survey

2010

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“…The lowered normalization of the intrinsic M bh -σ relation will serve as a more secure base for calibrating virial estimators of black hole mass for reverberation mapping-based scaling relations (e.g., Onken et al 2004;Woo et al 2010;Graham et al 2011;Park et al 2012a;Grier et al 2013;Ho & Kim 2015). The exact value of fvir, which depends on the structure, dynamics, and lineof-sight orientation of the broad line region, is indeed still a matter of intense debate (see, e.g., Yong et al 2016, for a recent discussion).…”

Section: Direct Implications Of the Bias In The Observed Scaling Relamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, the normalization and slope of the M bh -σ relation may contain key information on whether feedback is primarily via energy or momentum transfer (e.g., Silk & Rees 1998;Fabian 1999;King 2005;Wyithe & Loeb 2005;Fabian 2012;King 2014). Directly related to the normalization of the black hole scaling relations is the value of the virial fvirfactor used to derive the masses of black holes probed via reverberation mapping studies (Onken et al 2004;. If the M bh -σ normalization is too high by some amount, then the fvir-factor will be too high by this same amount.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selection bias in dynamically measured supermassive black hole samples: its consequences and the quest for the most fundamental relation

Shankar¹,

Bernardi²,

Sheth³

et al. 2016

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

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245

369

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We compare the set of local galaxies having dynamically measured black holes with a large, unbiased sample of galaxies extracted from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We confirm earlier work showing that the majority of black hole hosts have significantly higher velocity dispersions σ than local galaxies of similar stellar mass. We use Monte-Carlo simulations to illustrate the effect on black hole scaling relations if this bias arises from the requirement that the black hole sphere of influence must be resolved to measure black hole masses with spatially resolved kinematics. We find that this selection effect artificially increases the normalization of the M bh -σ relation by a factor of at least ∼ 3; the bias for the M bh -M star relation is even larger. Our Monte Carlo simulations and analysis of the residuals from scaling relations both indicate that σ is more fundamental than M star or effective radius. In particular, the M bh -M star relation is mostly a consequence of the M bh -σ and σ-M star relations, and is heavily biased by up to a factor of 50 at small masses. This helps resolve the discrepancy between dynamically-based black hole-galaxy scaling relations versus those of active galaxies. Our simulations also disfavour broad distributions of black hole masses at fixed σ. Correcting for this bias suggests that the calibration factor used to estimate black hole masses in active galaxies should be reduced to values of f vir ∼ 1. Black hole mass densities should also be proportionally smaller, perhaps implying significantly higher radiative efficiencies/black hole spins. Reducing black hole masses also reduces the gravitational wave signal expected from black hole mergers.

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“…This method employs the virial relation M• = f RBLR∆V 2 /G, where the broad line cloud velocity ∆V is derived from the broad emission line width, f is a scale factor that accounts for the geometry and kinematics of the BLR (usually calibrated by scaling to the local M• −σ * relationship (e.g. Onken et al 2004;Woo et al 2010;Woo et al 2013), and RBLR is the broad line region size. While the latter can be directly measured via reverberation mapping (e.g.…”

Section: Black Hole Massesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The cosmic growth of the active black hole population at 1 <z <2 in zCOSMOS, VVDS and SDSS

Schulze

Bongiorno

Gavignaud

et al. 2015

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

100

159

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We present a census of the active black hole population at 1 < z < 2, by constructing the bivariate distribution function of black hole mass and Eddington ratio, employing a maximum likelihood fitting technique. The study of the active black hole mass function (BHMF) and the Eddington ratio distribution function (ERDF) allows us to clearly disentangle the active galactic nuclei (AGN) downsizing phenomenon, present in the AGN luminosity function, into its physical processes of black hole mass downsizing and accretion rate evolution. We are utilizing type-1 AGN samples from three optical surveys (VVDS, zCOSMOS and SDSS), that cover a wide range of 3 dex in luminosity over our redshift interval of interest. We investigate the cosmic evolution of the AGN population as a function of AGN luminosity, black hole mass and accretion rate. Compared to z = 0, we find a distinct change in the shape of the BHMF and the ERDF, consistent with downsizing in black hole mass. The active fraction or duty cycle of type-1 AGN at z ∼ 1.5 is almost flat as a function of black hole mass, while it shows a strong decrease with increasing mass at z = 0. We are witnessing a phase of intense black hole growth, which is largely driven by the onset of AGN activity in massive black holes towards z = 2. We finally compare our results to numerical simulations and semi-empirical models and while we find reasonable agreement over certain parameter ranges, we highlight the need to refine these models in order to match our observations.

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Supermassive Black Holes in Active Galactic Nuclei. II. Calibration of the Black Hole Mass–Velocity Dispersion Relationship for Active Galactic Nuclei

Cited by 625 publications

References 43 publications

AGN and Host Galaxies in the COSMOS Survey

AGN and Host Galaxies in the COSMOS Survey

Selection bias in dynamically measured supermassive black hole samples: its consequences and the quest for the most fundamental relation

The cosmic growth of the active black hole population at 1 <z <2 in zCOSMOS, VVDS and SDSS

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