A Relationship Between Supermassive Black Hole Mass and the Total Gravitational Mass of the Host Galaxy

We investigate the correlation between the mass of a central supermassive black hole (SMBH) and the total gravitational mass of the host galaxy (M tot). The results are based on 43 galaxy-scale strong gravitational lenses from the Sloan Lens ACS Surveys (SLACS) Survey whose black hole masses were es...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2009-10, Vol.704 (2), p.1135-1145
Main Authors: Bandara, Kaushala, Crampton, David, Simard, Luc
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astronomy
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
BLACK HOLES
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
Earth, ocean, space
EVOLUTION
Exact sciences and technology
GALACTIC EVOLUTION
GALAXIES
GRAVITATIONAL LENSES
LENSES
MASS
QUASARS
TELESCOPES
UNIVERSE
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Summary:We investigate the correlation between the mass of a central supermassive black hole (SMBH) and the total gravitational mass of the host galaxy (M tot). The results are based on 43 galaxy-scale strong gravitational lenses from the Sloan Lens ACS Surveys (SLACS) Survey whose black hole masses were estimated through two scaling relations: the relation between black hole mass and Sersic index (M bh-n) and the relation between black hole mass and stellar velocity dispersion (M bh- Delta *s). We use the enclosed mass within R 200, the radius within which the density profile of the early type galaxy exceeds the critical density of the universe by a factor of 200, determined by gravitational lens models fitted to Hubble Space Telescope imaging data, as a tracer of the total gravitational mass. The best-fit correlation, where M bh is determined from M bh- Delta *s relation, is log(M bh) = (8.18 +/- 0.11) + (1.55 +/- 0.31)(log(M tot)-13.0) over 2 orders of magnitude in M bh. From a variety of tests, we find that we cannot reliably infer a connection between M bh and M tot from the M bh-n relation. The M bh-M tot relation provides some of the first, direct observational evidence to test the prediction that SMBH properties are determined by the halo properties of the host galaxy.
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/704/2/1135