Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/56854

Title

The M-bh-sigma diagram and the offset nature of barred active galaxies

Author(s)

Graham, Alister W.;  Li, I. H.

Abstract

From a sample of 50 predominantly inactive galaxies with direct supermassive black hole mass measurements, it has recently been established that barred galaxies tend to reside rightward of the M bh-σ relation defined by nonbarred galaxies. Either black holes in barred galaxies tend to be anemic or the central velocity dispersions in these galaxies have a tendency to be elevated by the presence of the bar. The latter option is in accord with studies connecting larger velocity dispersions in galaxies with old bars, while the former scenario is at odds with the observation that barred galaxies do not deviate from the M bh-luminosity relation. Using a sample of 88 galaxies with active galactic nuclei, whose supermassive black hole masses have been estimated from their associated emission lines, we reveal for the first time that they also display this same general behavior in the M bh-σ diagram depending on the presence of a bar or not. A new symmetrical and nonsymmetrical "barless" M bh-σ relation is derived using 82 nonbarred galaxies. The barred galaxies are shown to reside on or up to ∼1 dex below this relation. This may explain why narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies appear offset from the "barless" M bh-σ relation, and has far-reaching implications given that over half of the disk galaxy population are barred.

Publication type

Journal article

Research centre

Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies. Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing

Source

Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 698, no. 1 (Jun 2009), pp. 812-818

Publication year

2009

FOR Code(s)

0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences;  020103 Cosmology and Extragalactic Astronomy

Keyword(s)

Active galaxies;  Bars;  Black hole mass;  Digital Sky Survey;  Galactic nuclei;  Luminosity;  Seyfert galaxies;  Velocity dispersion

Publisher

Institute of Physics Publishing

ISSN

0004-637X

Publisher URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/698/1/812

Copyright

Copyright © 2009 The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. The American Astronomical Society does not allow institutions to archive either the accepted manuscript or the published version of the article.

Peer reviewed