Limits on the Mass of the Central Black Hole in 16 Nearby Bulges*

Marc Sarzi; Hans-Walter Rix; Joseph C. Shields; Daniel H. McIntosh; Luis C. Ho; Gregory Rudnick; Alexei V. Filippenko; Wallace L. W. Sargent; Aaron J. Barth

doi:10.1086/338351

Limits on the Mass of the Central Black Hole in 16 Nearby Bulges^*

Marc Sarzi^1,2, Hans-Walter Rix¹, Joseph C. Shields³, Daniel H. McIntosh⁴, Luis C. Ho⁵, Gregory Rudnick^1,6, Alexei V. Filippenko⁷, Wallace L. W. Sargent⁸, and Aaron J. Barth⁹

© 2002. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 567, Number 1 Citation Marc Sarzi et al 2002 ApJ 567 237 DOI 10.1086/338351

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Author affiliations

¹ Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, Heidelberg D-69117, Germany

² Dipartimento di Astronomia, Università di Padova, Vicolo dell'Osservatorio 5, I-35122 Padova, Italy

³ Physics and Astronomy Department, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701

⁴ Astronomy Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003

⁵ The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101-1292

⁶ Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721

⁷ Astronomy Department, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411

⁸ Palomar Observatory, Caltech 105-24, Pasadena, CA 91125

⁹ Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

Dates

Received 2001 August 3
Accepted 2001 October 29

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Abstract

We report upper limits on the masses of black holes that can be present in the centers of 16 nearby galaxy bulges. These limits M for our statistically complete sample were derived from the modeling of the central emission-line widths ([N II] or [S II]), observed over a 0 farcs 25 × 0 farcs 2 (R ≲ 9 pc) aperture. The experiment has a mean detection sensitivity of ~3.9 × 10⁶ M_☉. For three sample members with direct determinations of M_BH our upper limits agree within the uncertainties, while in general our upper limits are found to be close to the masses measured in other bulges with global properties similar to ours. Remarkably, our limits are quite close to the recently derived M_BH-σ_* relation. These results support a picture wherein the black hole mass and overall galaxy structure are closely linked, as galaxies with exceptionally high M_BH at a given σ_* apparently are rare.