NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2011B-0128
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NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2011B-0128 |
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PI: Jonelle Walsh, University of California, Irvine, jlwalsh@uci.edu
Address: Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, 4129 Frederick Reines Hall, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
CoI: Remco van den Bosch, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
CoI: Karl Gebhardt, University of Texas, Austin
Title: Exploring the Most Massive Black Holes through Stellar Dynamical Modeling
Abstract: Correlations linking the mass of the black hole in the centers of nearby galaxies to bulge properties have been clearly established over the past decade. However, there still remain major open questions, particularly concerning the upper-end of the black hole mass distribution. Based on the extreme stellar velocity dispersions of \gtrsim 400 km/s measured for the S0 galaxy NGC 1277 and the elliptical galaxy UGC 2698, these objects could host some of the most massive black holes known. We propose to obtain AO-assisted NIFS and OSIRIS observations to map out the stellar kinematics near the supermassive black hole. We will measure the black hole mass in both these galaxies through stellar dynamical modeling, leading to a better understanding the sparsely populated upper-end of the local black hole mass - host galaxy relationships.
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-0128 |
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