Relics of Nuclear Activity: Do All Galaxies Have Massive Black Holes?
نویسندگان
چکیده
The distribution of black hole (BH) masses M• in galaxies is constrained by photometric and kinematic studies of individual galaxies, and by the properties of the quasar population. I review our understanding of these topics, present new results of adiabatic BH growth models for HST photometry of elliptical galaxies with brightness profiles of the ‘core’ type, and discuss the implications of ground-based stellar kinematical data. It is not yet possible to uniquely determine the BH mass distribution, but the available evidence is not inconsistent with a picture in which: (i) a majority of galaxies has BHs; (ii) there is a correlation (with large scatter) between M• and spheroid luminosity Lsph of the form M• ≈ 10 Lsph (solar B-band units); and (iii) the BHs formed in a quasar phase through mass accretion with efficiency ≈ 0.05.
منابع مشابه
Rapidly spinning massive black holes in active galactic nuclei: evidence from the black hole mass function
The comparison of the black hole mass function (BHMF) of active galactic nuclei (AGN) relics with the measured mass function of the massive black holes in galaxies provides strong evidence for the growth of massive black holes being dominated by mass accretion. We derive the Eddington ratio distributions as functions of black hole mass and redshift from a large AGN sample with measured Eddingto...
متن کاملBlack Hole Demography from Nearby Active Galactic Nuclei
A significant fraction of local galaxies show evidence of nuclear activity. I argue that the bulk of this activity, while energetically not remarkable, derives from accretion onto a central massive black hole. The statistics of nearby active galactic nuclei thus provide an effective probe of black hole demography. Consistent with the picture emerging from direct dynamical studies, the local cen...
متن کاملThe evolution of massive black hole seeds
We investigate the evolution of high-redshift seed black hole masses at late times and their observational signatures. The massive black hole seeds studied here form at extremely high redshifts from the direct collapse of pre-galactic gas discs. Populating dark matter haloes with seeds formed in this way, we follow the mass assembly of these black holes to the present time using a Monte Carlo m...
متن کاملSupermassive Black Holes in Galactic Nuclei
We discuss the link between the observations of distant quasars and those of massive dark objects in the cores of many local galaxies. We show how the formation of early black holes gives rise to the luminosity function of high z quasars, while it imprints into their dark local relics a related shape of the mass-dispersion correlation. We propose that in its lower section the correlation slope ...
متن کاملOn the Fueling of Massive Black Holes and the Properties of Their Host Spheroids
We study the relation between nuclear massive black holes and their host spheroid gravitational potential. Using simple models, we analyze how gas is expected to be transported in the nuclear regions of galaxies. When we couple it with the expected gas lifetime given by the Kennicutt-Schmidt Law, this naturally leads to the ‘MBH Mvirial’ and ‘MBH σ’ relations. Subject headings: quasars: general...
متن کامل