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Title: COSMIC EVOLUTION OF BLACK HOLES AND SPHEROIDS. IV. THE M{sub BH}-L{sub sph} RELATION

Journal Article · · Astrophysical Journal
; ; ;  [1]; ;  [2];  [3]
  1. Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106 (United States)
  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (United States)
  3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON N6A 3K7 (Canada)

From high-resolution images of 23 Seyfert-1 galaxies at z = 0.36 and z = 0.57 obtained with the Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), we determine host-galaxy morphology, nuclear luminosity, total host-galaxy luminosity, and spheroid luminosity. Keck spectroscopy is used to estimate black hole mass (M{sub BH}). We study the cosmic evolution of the M{sub BH}-spheroid luminosity (L{sub sph}) relation. In combination with our previous work, totaling 40 Seyfert-1 galaxies, the covered range in BH mass is substantially increased, allowing us to determine for the first time intrinsic scatter and correct evolutionary trends for selection effects. We re-analyze archival HST images of 19 local reverberation-mapped active galaxies to match the procedure adopted at intermediate redshift. Correcting spheroid luminosity for passive luminosity evolution and taking into account selection effects, we determine that at fixed present-day V-band spheroid luminosity, M{sub BH}/L{sub sph} propor to(1 + z){sup 2.8+}-{sup 1.2}. When including a sample of 44 quasars out to z = 4.5 taken from the literature, with luminosity and BH mass corrected to a self-consistent calibration, we extend the BH mass range to over 2 orders of magnitude, resulting in M{sub BH}/L{sub sph} propor to(1 + z){sup 1.4+}-{sup 0.2}. The intrinsic scatter of the relation, assumed constant with redshift, is 0.3 +- 0.1 dex (<0.6 dex at 95% CL). The evolutionary trend suggests that BH growth precedes spheroid assembly. Interestingly, the M{sub BH}-total-host-galaxy-luminosity relation is apparently non-evolving. It hints at either a more fundamental relation or that the spheroid grows by a redistribution of stars. However, the high-z sample does not follow this relation, indicating that major mergers may play the dominant role in growing spheroids above z approx = 1.

OSTI ID:
21392386
Journal Information:
Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 708, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/708/2/1507; ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English