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The Megamaser Cosmology Project: precise black hole mass measurement and the implication for the MBH–σ∗ relation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2016

Cheng-Yu Kuo
Affiliation:
Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, P.O. Box 23-141, Taipei 10617, Taiwan email: [email protected]
James A. Braatz
Affiliation:
National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA
James J. Condon
Affiliation:
National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA
Caterina M. V. Impellizzeri
Affiliation:
National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA
Kwok-Yung Lo
Affiliation:
National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA
Ingyin Zaw
Affiliation:
New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Christian Henkel
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany
Mark J. Reid
Affiliation:
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Jenny E. Greene
Affiliation:
Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
Feng Gao
Affiliation:
Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, 80 Nandan Road, Shanghai 200030, China
Wei Zhao
Affiliation:
Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, 80 Nandan Road, Shanghai 200030, China
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Abstract

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We made dynamical black hole mass measurements from nineteen Seyfert 2 galaxies which host sub-parsec H2O maser disks using the H2O megamaser technique. The nearly perfect Keplerian rotation curves in many of these maser systems guarantee the high accuracy and precision of the black hole mass measurements. With the stellar velocity dispersion (σ∗) of the galaxy bulges measured with the Dupont 2.5 m telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in the South and the Apache Point Observatory (APO) 3.5m telescope in the North, we found that H2O maser galaxies, most of which host pseudo bulges rather than classical bulges, do not all follow the MBH–σ∗ relation shown in the literature. This result is well consistent with the latest findings by Kormendy & Ho (2013) that only early type galaxies and galaxies with classical bulges follow a tight MBH–σ∗ relation. Such a tight correlation may not exist in pseudo bulge galaxies.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2016 

References

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