Dynamical black hole masses of BL Lac objects from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
We measure black hole masses for 71 BL Lac objects from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey with redshifts out to z~ 0.4. We perform spectral decompositions of their nuclei from their host galaxies and measure their stellar velocity dispersions. Black hole masses are then derived from the black hole mass -...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Oxford University Press
2011
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/52454 |
| _version_ | 1848758930331664384 |
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| author | Plotkin, Richard Markoff, S. Trager, S. Anderson, S. |
| author_facet | Plotkin, Richard Markoff, S. Trager, S. Anderson, S. |
| author_sort | Plotkin, Richard |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | We measure black hole masses for 71 BL Lac objects from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey with redshifts out to z~ 0.4. We perform spectral decompositions of their nuclei from their host galaxies and measure their stellar velocity dispersions. Black hole masses are then derived from the black hole mass - stellar velocity dispersion relation. We find BL Lac objects host black holes of similar masses, ~108.5M?, with a dispersion of ±0.4dex, similar to the uncertainties on each black hole measurement. Therefore, all BL Lac objects in our sample have the same indistinguishable black hole mass. These 71 BL Lac objects follow the black hole mass-bulge luminosity relation, and their narrow range of host galaxy luminosities confirm previous claims that BL Lac host galaxies can be treated as standard candles. We conclude that the observed diversity in the shapes of BL Lac object spectral energy distributions is not strongly driven by black hole mass or host galaxy properties. © 2011 The Authors Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2011 RAS. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:51:49Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-52454 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:51:49Z |
| publishDate | 2011 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-524542017-09-13T15:48:31Z Dynamical black hole masses of BL Lac objects from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Plotkin, Richard Markoff, S. Trager, S. Anderson, S. We measure black hole masses for 71 BL Lac objects from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey with redshifts out to z~ 0.4. We perform spectral decompositions of their nuclei from their host galaxies and measure their stellar velocity dispersions. Black hole masses are then derived from the black hole mass - stellar velocity dispersion relation. We find BL Lac objects host black holes of similar masses, ~108.5M?, with a dispersion of ±0.4dex, similar to the uncertainties on each black hole measurement. Therefore, all BL Lac objects in our sample have the same indistinguishable black hole mass. These 71 BL Lac objects follow the black hole mass-bulge luminosity relation, and their narrow range of host galaxy luminosities confirm previous claims that BL Lac host galaxies can be treated as standard candles. We conclude that the observed diversity in the shapes of BL Lac object spectral energy distributions is not strongly driven by black hole mass or host galaxy properties. © 2011 The Authors Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2011 RAS. 2011 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/52454 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.18172.x Oxford University Press fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Plotkin, Richard Markoff, S. Trager, S. Anderson, S. Dynamical black hole masses of BL Lac objects from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey |
| title | Dynamical black hole masses of BL Lac objects from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey |
| title_full | Dynamical black hole masses of BL Lac objects from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey |
| title_fullStr | Dynamical black hole masses of BL Lac objects from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey |
| title_full_unstemmed | Dynamical black hole masses of BL Lac objects from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey |
| title_short | Dynamical black hole masses of BL Lac objects from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey |
| title_sort | dynamical black hole masses of bl lac objects from the sloan digital sky survey |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/52454 |