Estimating Masses of Supermassive Black Holes in Active Galactic Nuclei from the Halpha Emission Line

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bontà, E. Dalla, Peterson, B. M., Grier, C. J., Berton, M., Brandt, W. N., Ciroi, S., Corsini, E. M., Barba, B. Dalla, Davies, R., Dehghanian, M., Edelson, R., Foschini, L., Gasparri, D., Ho, L. C., Horne, K., Iodice, E., Morelli, L., Pizzella, A., Portaluri, E., Shen, Y., Schneider, D. P., Vestergaard, M.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866917973098233856
author Bontà, E. Dalla
Peterson, B. M.
Grier, C. J.
Berton, M.
Brandt, W. N.
Ciroi, S.
Corsini, E. M.
Barba, B. Dalla
Davies, R.
Dehghanian, M.
Edelson, R.
Foschini, L.
Gasparri, D.
Ho, L. C.
Horne, K.
Iodice, E.
Morelli, L.
Pizzella, A.
Portaluri, E.
Shen, Y.
Schneider, D. P.
Vestergaard, M.
author_facet Bontà, E. Dalla
Peterson, B. M.
Grier, C. J.
Berton, M.
Brandt, W. N.
Ciroi, S.
Corsini, E. M.
Barba, B. Dalla
Davies, R.
Dehghanian, M.
Edelson, R.
Foschini, L.
Gasparri, D.
Ho, L. C.
Horne, K.
Iodice, E.
Morelli, L.
Pizzella, A.
Portaluri, E.
Shen, Y.
Schneider, D. P.
Vestergaard, M.
contents The goal of this project is to construct an estimator for the masses of supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) based on the broad Halpha emission line. We make use of published reverberation mapping data. We remeasure all Halpha time lags from the original data as we find that often the reverberation measurements are improved by detrending the light curves. We produce mass estimators that require only the Halpha luminosity and the width of the Halpha emission line as characterized by either the FWHM or the line dispersion. It is possible, on the basis of a single spectrum covering the Halpha emission line, to estimate the mass of the central supermassive black hole in AGNs, taking into account all three parameters believed to affect mass measurement: luminosity, line width, and Eddington ratio. The typical formal accuracy in such estimates is of order 0.2-0.3 dex.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_21387
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Estimating Masses of Supermassive Black Holes in Active Galactic Nuclei from the Halpha Emission Line
Bontà, E. Dalla
Peterson, B. M.
Grier, C. J.
Berton, M.
Brandt, W. N.
Ciroi, S.
Corsini, E. M.
Barba, B. Dalla
Davies, R.
Dehghanian, M.
Edelson, R.
Foschini, L.
Gasparri, D.
Ho, L. C.
Horne, K.
Iodice, E.
Morelli, L.
Pizzella, A.
Portaluri, E.
Shen, Y.
Schneider, D. P.
Vestergaard, M.
Astrophysics of Galaxies
The goal of this project is to construct an estimator for the masses of supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) based on the broad Halpha emission line. We make use of published reverberation mapping data. We remeasure all Halpha time lags from the original data as we find that often the reverberation measurements are improved by detrending the light curves. We produce mass estimators that require only the Halpha luminosity and the width of the Halpha emission line as characterized by either the FWHM or the line dispersion. It is possible, on the basis of a single spectrum covering the Halpha emission line, to estimate the mass of the central supermassive black hole in AGNs, taking into account all three parameters believed to affect mass measurement: luminosity, line width, and Eddington ratio. The typical formal accuracy in such estimates is of order 0.2-0.3 dex.
title Estimating Masses of Supermassive Black Holes in Active Galactic Nuclei from the Halpha Emission Line
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.21387