Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Aims. 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 Hα emission line. Methods. We made use of published reverberation mapping data. We remeasured all Hα time lags from the original data as we find that reverberation measurements are often improved by detrending the light curves. Results. We produced mass estimators that require only the Hα luminosity and the width of the Hα emission line as characterized by either the full width at half maximum or the line dispersion. Conclusions. It is possible, on the basis of a single spectrum covering the Hα emission line, to estimate the mass of the central supermassive black hole in AGNs with all three parameters believed to affect mass measurement – luminosity, line width, and Eddington ratio – taken into account. The typical formal accuracy in such estimates is of order 0.2–0.3 dex relative to the reverberation-based masses.
Authors: E. Dalla Bontà, B. M. Peterson, C. J. Grier, M. Berton, W. N. Brandt, S. Ciroi, E. M. Corsini, B. Dalla Barba, R. Davies, M. Dehghanian, R. Edelson, L. Foschini, D. Gasparri, L. C. Ho, K. Horne, E. Iodice, L. Morelli, A. Pizzella, E. Portaluri, Y. Shen, D. P. Schneider, M. Vestergaard
Institutions: University of Wisconsin–Madison, European Southern Observatory, University of Padua, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, University of Insubria, Brera Astronomical Observatory, National Institute for Astrophysics, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Virginia Tech, Eureka Scientific, University of Atacama, Peking University, Scottish Universities Physics Alliance, Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte, Collurania Teramo Observatory, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Pennsylvania State University, University of Copenhagen, University of Arizona
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G15967578, G1655805643, G1711791094, G18792045, Understanding the Stellar Mass and Environmental Dependences of Cosmic Black-Hole Growth, G2680975798, G3193396747, Opening the ALMA window on the cosmic evolution of gas, stars and supermassive black holes, G4248713385, G4426132292, G452065687, G4752783235, G490430286, G5325524519, G5424237885, G551232673, G572233243, G579566091, G6389701725, G6498671151, G6934574810, G896239237, G940243071
OpenAlex ID: W6903428910
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