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Black hole scaling relations of active and quiescent galaxies: Addressing selection effects and constraining virial factors

Black hole scaling relations of active and quiescent galaxies: Addressing selection effects and constraining virial factors
Black hole scaling relations of active and quiescent galaxies: Addressing selection effects and constraining virial factors
Local samples of quiescent galaxies with dynamically measured black hole masses (Mbh) may suffer from an angular resolution-related selection effect, which could bias the observed scaling relations between Mbh and host galaxy properties away from the intrinsic relations. In particular, previous work has shown that the observed Mbh–Mstar relation is more strongly biased than the Mbh–σ relation. Local samples of active galactic nuclei (AGN) do not suffer from this selection effect, as in these samples Mbh is estimated from megamasers and/or reverberation mapping-based techniques. With the exception of megamasers, Mbh estimates in these AGN samples are proportional to a virial coefficient fvir. Direct modelling of the broad-line region suggests that fvir ∼ 3.5. However, this results in an Mbh–Mstar relation for AGN, which lies below and is steeper than the one observed for quiescent black hole samples. A similar though milder trend is seen for the Mbh–σ relation. Matching the high-mass end of the Mbh–Mstar and Mbh–σ relations observed in quiescent samples requires fvir ≳ 15 and fvir ≳ 7, respectively. On the other hand, fvir ∼ 3.5 yields Mbh–σ and Mbh–Mstar relations for AGN, which are remarkably consistent with the expected ‘intrinsic’ correlations for quiescent samples (i.e. once account has been made of the angular resolution-related selection effect), providing additional evidence that the sample of local quiescent black holes is biased. We also show that, as is the case for quiescent black holes, the Mbh–Mstar scaling relation of AGN is driven by σ, thus providing additional key constraints to black hole–galaxy co-evolution models.
1278-1292
Shankar, Francesco
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Bernardi, Mariangela
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Richardson, Kayleigh
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Marsden, Christopher
ccd1ecc8-3eb4-4699-a87e-0bfba0dd40b0
Sheth, Ravi
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Allevato, Viola
cced4e40-6a45-4261-911a-442d99a6aeb7
Graziani, Luca
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Mezcua, Mar
39cb729d-b438-4d63-95f2-3c318ff87ad1
Ricci, Federica
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Penny, Samantha J.
4fbe5870-87a8-4eeb-94ae-019441a20551
La Franca, Fabio
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Pacucci, Fabio
9582eb1a-643b-44cc-80fa-e4ff53b585f4
Shankar, Francesco
b10c91e4-85cd-4394-a18a-d4f049fd9cdb
Bernardi, Mariangela
51f0929c-ba65-4d9c-a814-673442f48d75
Richardson, Kayleigh
00dbc2b2-e6f7-4c92-b96e-4d8f74c0dd43
Marsden, Christopher
ccd1ecc8-3eb4-4699-a87e-0bfba0dd40b0
Sheth, Ravi
87b37c62-0b6c-44d9-a9d5-31f71605b20f
Allevato, Viola
cced4e40-6a45-4261-911a-442d99a6aeb7
Graziani, Luca
76c154b9-c692-44ef-83f2-93861443cc71
Mezcua, Mar
39cb729d-b438-4d63-95f2-3c318ff87ad1
Ricci, Federica
8d69561c-2eb1-4af1-84d7-1c13286f32d5
Penny, Samantha J.
4fbe5870-87a8-4eeb-94ae-019441a20551
La Franca, Fabio
abbb3d3c-c4e3-4e73-920a-c6c183698ed2
Pacucci, Fabio
9582eb1a-643b-44cc-80fa-e4ff53b585f4

Shankar, Francesco, Bernardi, Mariangela, Richardson, Kayleigh, Marsden, Christopher, Sheth, Ravi, Allevato, Viola, Graziani, Luca, Mezcua, Mar, Ricci, Federica, Penny, Samantha J., La Franca, Fabio and Pacucci, Fabio (2019) Black hole scaling relations of active and quiescent galaxies: Addressing selection effects and constraining virial factors. Monthly Notice of the Royal Astronomical Society, 485 (1), 1278-1292. (doi:10.1093/mnras/stz376).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Local samples of quiescent galaxies with dynamically measured black hole masses (Mbh) may suffer from an angular resolution-related selection effect, which could bias the observed scaling relations between Mbh and host galaxy properties away from the intrinsic relations. In particular, previous work has shown that the observed Mbh–Mstar relation is more strongly biased than the Mbh–σ relation. Local samples of active galactic nuclei (AGN) do not suffer from this selection effect, as in these samples Mbh is estimated from megamasers and/or reverberation mapping-based techniques. With the exception of megamasers, Mbh estimates in these AGN samples are proportional to a virial coefficient fvir. Direct modelling of the broad-line region suggests that fvir ∼ 3.5. However, this results in an Mbh–Mstar relation for AGN, which lies below and is steeper than the one observed for quiescent black hole samples. A similar though milder trend is seen for the Mbh–σ relation. Matching the high-mass end of the Mbh–Mstar and Mbh–σ relations observed in quiescent samples requires fvir ≳ 15 and fvir ≳ 7, respectively. On the other hand, fvir ∼ 3.5 yields Mbh–σ and Mbh–Mstar relations for AGN, which are remarkably consistent with the expected ‘intrinsic’ correlations for quiescent samples (i.e. once account has been made of the angular resolution-related selection effect), providing additional evidence that the sample of local quiescent black holes is biased. We also show that, as is the case for quiescent black holes, the Mbh–Mstar scaling relation of AGN is driven by σ, thus providing additional key constraints to black hole–galaxy co-evolution models.

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Accepted/In Press date: 28 January 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 7 February 2019
Published date: May 2019

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Local EPrints ID: 430642
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/430642
PURE UUID: 944c06dd-03b5-475c-8f06-1e8a4a667e67

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Date deposited: 07 May 2019 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 01:34

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Contributors

Author: Mariangela Bernardi
Author: Kayleigh Richardson
Author: Christopher Marsden
Author: Ravi Sheth
Author: Viola Allevato
Author: Luca Graziani
Author: Mar Mezcua
Author: Federica Ricci
Author: Samantha J. Penny
Author: Fabio La Franca
Author: Fabio Pacucci

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