The mass of the black hole in 3C 273

Abstract

Abstract. In this paper we apply the reverberation method to determine the mass of the black hole in 3C 273 from the Lyα and C emission lines using archival IUE observations. Following the standard assumptions of the method, we find a maximumlikelihood estimate of the mass of 6.59 × 10 9 M , with a 1σ confidence interval 5.69−8.27 × 10 9 M . This estimate is more than one order of magnitude larger than that obtained in a previous study using Balmer lines. We reanalyze the optical data and show that the method applied to the Hα, Hβ, and Hγ Balmer lines produce mass estimates lower by a factor 2.5, but already much larger than the previous estimate derived from the same lines. The finding of such a high mass in a face-on object is a strong indication that the gas motion is not confined to the accretion disk. The new mass estimate makes 3C 273 accreting with an accretion rate about six times lower than the Eddington rate. We discuss the implications of our result for the broad-line-region size and black-hole mass vs. luminosity relationships for the set of objects for which reverberation black-hole masses have been obtained. We find that, while objects with super-Eddington luminosities might theoretically be possible, their existence is not necessarily implied by this sample.

Optical monitoring of BL Lac object S5 0716+714 and FSRQ 3C 273 from 2000 to 2014

“…Espaillat et al (2008) obtained a black hole mass of about 8.1 × 10 7 M , which is consistent with our result. Paltani & Turler (2005) applied the reverberation method to find a maximum-likelihood mass of about 6.59 × 10 9 M , which is heavier than ours and Espaillat et al (2008)'s results.…”

The Global Jet Structure of the Archetypical Quasar 3C 273

“…On the other hand, 3C 273 has a much higher bolometric luminosity of ∼0.13-0.53 L edd [9], implying that the source is driven by an accretion flow with a much higher accretion rate, such as for a standard thin disk [23]. Given the geometrically-thin shape expected for this regime of the black-hole accretion flow, the streamline of 3C 273 suggests that the material confining the jet would be different from other low luminosity AGNs, and simultaneously poses a question about how the circum-jet material has enough external pressure to support jet confinement in luminous AGNs with quite different accretion regimes.…”

“…Its proximity as a radio-loud quasar (z = 0.158) and its extraordinarily massive black hole (6.59 +1.67 −0.90 × 10 9 M ; [9]) provide the largest angular diameter of the SMBH among the known radio-loud quasars (1 mas = 2.7 pc = 4.8 × 10 3 R s ). The jet structure has been clearly resolved transversely in a broad spatial range from milliarcsecond to arcsecond angular scales (e.g., [10,11]).…”

Constraining the location of rapid gamma-ray flares in the flat spectrum radio quasar 3C 273

“…A71, page 9 of 11 A&A 557, A71 (2013) For 3C 273, M 9 = M BH /(10 9 M ) ≈ 0.9−2.4 (Paltani & Türler 2005;Peterson et al 2004), where M BH is the black hole mass. Using τ BLR = 0.01 to 0.1 (Boettcher & Dermer 1998), and Γ bulk = 10.6 ± 2.8 (Jorstad et al 2005), we obtain 0.005 pc < r γ < 1.4 pc.…”