287 research outputs found
Supermassive Black Holes Then and Now
Recent surveys suggest that most or all normal galaxies host a massive black
hole with 1/100 to 1/1000 of the visible mass of the spheroid of the galaxy.
Various lines of argument suggest that these galaxies have merged at least once
in our past lightcone, and that the black holes have also merged. This leads to
a merger rate of massive black holes of about 1/\yrs.Comment: 7 pages, to appear in The Proceedings of the Second International
LISA Symposium on Graviational Waves, ed. W. Folkne
Hypervelocity binary stars: smoking gun of massive binary black holes
The hypervelocity stars recently found in the Galactic halo are expelled from
the Galactic center through interactions between binary stars and the central
massive black hole or between single stars and a hypothetical massive binary
black hole. In this paper, we demonstrate that binary stars can be ejected out
of the Galactic center with velocities up to 10^3 km/s, while preserving their
integrity, through interactions with a massive binary black hole. Binary stars
are unlikely to attain such high velocities via scattering by a single massive
black hole or through any other mechanisms. Based on the above theoretical
prediction, we propose a search for binary systems among the hypervelocity
stars. Discovery of hypervelocity binary stars, even one, is a definitive
evidence of the existence of a massive binary black hole in the Galactic
center.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, shortened version, ApJL in pres
Retaining Black Holes with Very Large Recoil Velocities
Recent numerical simulations of binary black hole mergers show the
possibility of producing very large recoil velocities (> 3000 km/s). Kicks of
this magnitude should be sufficient to eject the final black hole from
virtually any galactic potential. This result has been seen as a potential
contradiction with observations of supermassive black holes residing in the
centers of most galaxies in the local universe. Using an extremely simplified
merger tree model, we show that, even in the limit of very large ejection
probability, after a small number of merger generations there should still be
an appreciable fraction (>50%) of galaxies with supermassive black holes today.
We go on to argue that the inclusion of more realistic physics ingredients in
the merger model should systematically increase this retention fraction,
helping to resolve a potential conflict between theory and observation. Lastly,
we develop a more realistic Monte Carlo model to confirm the qualitative
arguments and estimate occupation fractions as a function of the central
galactic velocity dispersion.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures; Comments welcom
The Cosmic Density of Massive Black Holes from Galaxy Velocity Dispersions
Supermassive black holes are thought to be relics of quasars, and their
numbers and masses are therefore related to the quasar luminosity function and
its evolution with redshift. We have used the relationship between black hole
mass and bulge velocity dispersion (the M_bullet - sigma relation) to make an
improved estimate of the mass density and mass spectrum of supermassive black
holes. Uncertainties in the M_bullet - sigma relation have little effect on the
mass density. We find a mass density of (4.8 +/- 1.6) h^2 x 10^5 M_sun Mpc^-3.
Some of the variance in published density estimates comes from the use of
different values of the Hubble constant.Comment: To appear in the December 2002 issue of The Astronomical Journa
Keplerian Motion of Broad-Line Region Gas as Evidence for Supermassive Black Holes in Active Galactic Nuclei
Emission-line variability data on NGC 5548 argue strongly for the existence
of a mass of order 7 x 10^7 solar masses within the inner few light days of the
nucleus in the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548. The time-delayed response of the
emission lines to continuum variations is used to infer the size of the
line-emitting region, and these determinations are combined with measurements
of the Doppler widths of the variable line components to estimate a virial
mass. The data for several different emission lines spanning an order of
magnitude in distance from the central source show the expected V proportional
to r^{-1/2} correlation and are consistent with a single value for the mass.Comment: 9 pages, 2 Figures. accepted by ApJ Letter
The Black Hole to Bulge Mass Relation in Active Galactic Nuclei
The masses of the central black holes in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) can be
estimated using the broad emission-lines as a probe of the virial mass. Using
reverberation mapping to determine the size of the Broad Line Region (BLR) and
the width of the variable component of the line profile H line it is
possible to find quite accurate virial mass estimates for AGNs with adequate
data. Compiling a sample of AGNs with reliable central masses and bulge
magnitudes we find an average black-hole-to-bulge mass ratio of 0.0003, a
factor of 20 less than the value found for normal galaxies and for bright
quasars. This lower ratio is more consistent with the back hole mass density
predicted from quasar light, and is similar to the central black hole/bulge
mass ratio in our Galaxy. We argue that the black hole/bulge mass ratio
actually has a significantly larger range than indicated by mssive black holes
detected in normal galaxies (using stellar dynamics) and in bright quasars,
which may be biased towards large black holes. We derive a scenario of black
hole growth that explains the observed distribution.Comment: 12 pages LaTeX, including 2 revised figures, revised table. Revised
version to be published in the Astrophysical Journal (Letters) Ap.J.Lett. 51
Evolution of Supermassive Black Holes from Cosmological Simulations
The correlations between the mass of supermassive black holes and properties
of their host galaxies are investigated through cosmological simulations. Black
holes grow from seeds of 100 solar masses inserted into density peaks present
in the redshift range 12-15. Seeds grow essentially by accreting matter from a
nuclear disk and also by coalescences resulting from merger episodes. At z=0,
our simulations reproduce the black hole mass function and the correlations of
the black hole mass both with stellar velocity dispersion and host dark halo
mass. Moreover, the evolution of the black hole mass density derived from the
present simulations agrees with that derived from the bolometric luminosity
function of quasars, indicating that the average accretion history of seeds is
adequately reproduced . However, our simulations are unable to form black holes
with masses above at , whose existence is inferred
from the bright quasars detected by the Sloan survey in this redshift range.Comment: Talk given at the International Workshop on Astronomy and
Relativistic Astrophysics (IWARA 2009), Maresias, Brazil. to be published in
the International Journal of Modern Physics
Evidence for Supermassive Black Holes in Active Galactic Nuclei from Emission-Line Reverberation
Emission-line variability data for Seyfert 1 galaxies provide strong evidence
for the existence of supermassive black holes in the nuclei of these galaxies,
and that the line-emitting gas is moving in the gravitational potential of that
black hole. The time-delayed response of the emission lines to continuum
variations is used to infer the size of the line-emitting region, which is then
combined with measurements of the Doppler widths of the variable line
components to estimate a virial mass. In the case of the best-studied galaxy,
NGC 5548, various emission lines spanning an order of magnitude in distance
from the central source show the expected velocity proportional to inverse
square root of the distance correlation between distance and line width, and
are thus consistent with a single value for the mass. Two other Seyfert
galaxies, NGC 7469 and 3C 390.3, show a similar relationship. We compute the
ratio of luminosity to mass for these three objects and the narrow-line Seyfert
1 galaxy NGC 4051 and find that that the gravitational force on the
line-emitting gas is much stronger than radiation pressure. These results
strongly support the paradigm of gravitationally bound broad emission-line
region clouds.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, Accepted for publication in Astrophysical
Journal Letter
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