NGC 3259: A Signal for an Untapped Population of Slowly Accreting Intermediate-Mass Black Holes
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866914065679384576 |
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| author | Grishin, Kirill A. Chilingarian, Igor V. Combes, Francoise Bauer, Franz E. Toptun, Victoria A. Katkov, Ivan Yu. Fabricant, Daniel |
| author_facet | Grishin, Kirill A. Chilingarian, Igor V. Combes, Francoise Bauer, Franz E. Toptun, Victoria A. Katkov, Ivan Yu. Fabricant, Daniel |
| contents | Low-mass active galactic nuclei (AGNs) can provide important constraints on the formation and evolution of supermassive black holes (SMBHs), a central challenge in modern cosmology. To date only small samples of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs, $M_{BH}<10^5M_{\odot}$) and 'lesser' supermassive black holes (LSMBHs, $M_{BH}<10^6M_{\odot}$) have been identified. Our present study of NGC 3259 at D=27 Mpc with the Binospec integral field unit spectrograph complemented with Keck Echelle Spectrograph and Imager observations demonstrates the need for and the power of the spectroscopic follow-up. NGC 3259 hosts a black hole with a mass of $M_{BH}=(1.7-4.1)\times10^5M_{\odot}$, inferred from multi-epoch spectroscopic data, that accretes at 1% of the Eddington limit as suggested by the analysis of archival XMM-Newton observations. It is the second nearest low-mass AGN after the archetypal galaxy NGC 4395. The spectroscopic data reveals a variable broad $Hα$ profile that is likely the result of asymmetrically distributed broad-line region (BLR) clouds or BLR outflow events. X-ray observations and the absence of an optical power-law continuum suggest partial obscuration of the accretion disk and hot corona by a dust torus. We estimate that the Sloan Digital Sky Survey could only detect similar objects to D=35 Mpc. A detailed photometric analysis of NGC 3259 using HST images provides a central spheroid stellar mass estimate 25 times lower than expected from the $M_{BH}-M^*_{sph}$ relation, making this galaxy a strong outlier. This discrepancy suggests divergent growth pathways for the central black hole and spheroid, potentially influenced by the presence of a bar in the galaxy. Finally, we demonstrate that the DESI and 4MOST surveys will detect low-accretion rate IMBHs and LSMBHs and the sensitivity of future X-ray instruments (such as AXIS and Athena) will secure their classification. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_13202 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | NGC 3259: A Signal for an Untapped Population of Slowly Accreting Intermediate-Mass Black Holes Grishin, Kirill A. Chilingarian, Igor V. Combes, Francoise Bauer, Franz E. Toptun, Victoria A. Katkov, Ivan Yu. Fabricant, Daniel Astrophysics of Galaxies High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics Low-mass active galactic nuclei (AGNs) can provide important constraints on the formation and evolution of supermassive black holes (SMBHs), a central challenge in modern cosmology. To date only small samples of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs, $M_{BH}<10^5M_{\odot}$) and 'lesser' supermassive black holes (LSMBHs, $M_{BH}<10^6M_{\odot}$) have been identified. Our present study of NGC 3259 at D=27 Mpc with the Binospec integral field unit spectrograph complemented with Keck Echelle Spectrograph and Imager observations demonstrates the need for and the power of the spectroscopic follow-up. NGC 3259 hosts a black hole with a mass of $M_{BH}=(1.7-4.1)\times10^5M_{\odot}$, inferred from multi-epoch spectroscopic data, that accretes at 1% of the Eddington limit as suggested by the analysis of archival XMM-Newton observations. It is the second nearest low-mass AGN after the archetypal galaxy NGC 4395. The spectroscopic data reveals a variable broad $Hα$ profile that is likely the result of asymmetrically distributed broad-line region (BLR) clouds or BLR outflow events. X-ray observations and the absence of an optical power-law continuum suggest partial obscuration of the accretion disk and hot corona by a dust torus. We estimate that the Sloan Digital Sky Survey could only detect similar objects to D=35 Mpc. A detailed photometric analysis of NGC 3259 using HST images provides a central spheroid stellar mass estimate 25 times lower than expected from the $M_{BH}-M^*_{sph}$ relation, making this galaxy a strong outlier. This discrepancy suggests divergent growth pathways for the central black hole and spheroid, potentially influenced by the presence of a bar in the galaxy. Finally, we demonstrate that the DESI and 4MOST surveys will detect low-accretion rate IMBHs and LSMBHs and the sensitivity of future X-ray instruments (such as AXIS and Athena) will secure their classification. |
| title | NGC 3259: A Signal for an Untapped Population of Slowly Accreting Intermediate-Mass Black Holes |
| topic | Astrophysics of Galaxies High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.13202 |