Estimating masses of supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei from the H<i>α</i> emission line
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 H α emission line. Methods. We made use of published reverberation mapping data. We remeasured all H α 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 H α luminosity and the width of the H α 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 H α 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
- Maryam Dehghanian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0964-7500)
- E. M. Corsini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3460-5633)
- D. Gasparri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8141-523X)
- S. Ciroi
- W. N. Brandt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0167-2453)
- C. J. Grier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9920-6057)
- L. Morelli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6890-3503)
- Elisa Portaluri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1242-7242)
- B. M. Peterson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6481-5397)
- M. Vestergaard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9191-9837)
- M. Berton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1058-9109)
- R. Edelson
- L. Foschini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8678-0324)
- E. Iodice (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4291-0005)
- K. Horne (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1728-0304)
- Luis C. Ho (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6947-5846)
- Yue Shen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1659-7035)
- E. Dalla Bontà (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9931-8681)
- A. Pizzella (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9585-417X)
- D. P. Schneider (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3487-9688)
- B. Dalla Barba (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-1729-2352)
- R. E. Davies
Institutions
- University of Insubria (IT)
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- University of Wisconsin System (US)
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- University of Arizona (US)
- University of Padua (IT)
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- University of St Andrews (GB)
- University of Lancashire (GB)
- University of Atacama (CL)
- Peking University (CN)
- Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte (IT)
- Brera Astronomical Observatory (IT)
- Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (DE)
- Turner Consulting Group (United States) (US)
- Kavli Institute for Theoretical Sciences (CN)
- Collurania Teramo Observatory (IT)
- Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (GB)
- European Southern Observatory (CL)
- National Center for Supercomputing Applications (US)
- Eureka Scientific (US)
- Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (IT)
- Virginia Tech (US)
- Ruhr University Bochum (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Published
- 2025-02-07
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202452746
- Citations
- 7
- Primary Topic
- Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 8.08
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
- University of Utah
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca
- Università degli Studi di Padova
- Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo
- Office of Science
- Institut sur la Nutrition et les Aliments Fonctionnels
- National Key Research and Development Program of China