NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2011B-0120
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NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2011B-0120 |
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PI: Misty C. Bentz, Georgia State University, bentz@chara.gsu.edu
Address: Physics Department, 709 One Park Place South, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA
CoI: Emily Manne-Nicholas, Georgia State University
CoI: Ben Ou-Yang, Georgia State University
Title: The Black Hole Mass-Bulge Luminosity Relationship for Reverberation- Mapped AGNs in the Near-IR
Abstract: We propose to obtain high spatial resolution near-IR images of the host galaxies of reverberation-mapped AGNs with WHIRC+WTTM on WIYN to more accurately study the effect of host-galaxy morphology on the \ml\ relationship. Current studies focusing on the sample of galaxies with direct black hole mass measurements from stellar and gas dynamical modeling disagree as to whether morphology (specifically the presence of a pseudobulge or bar) can adversely affect one's ability to use scaling relationships to estimate the central black hole mass. Preliminary results based on high resolution HST optical images of another sample of galaxies with direct black hole masses, the reverberation mapping sample, suggest that morphology does not affect the \ml relationship as it has been seen to do with the \msigma relationship. Confirmation of these preliminary results with near-IR imaging, where the effects of internal extinction and ongoing star formation are minimized, would indicate that the \ml relationship is a more accurate predictor of black hole masses and would directly impact ongoing studies of black hole and galaxy evolution.
National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 North Cherry Avenue, P.O. Box 26732, Tucson, Arizona 85726, Phone: (520) 318-8000, Fax: (520) 318-8360
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NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2011B-0120 |
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