2009/11/20 by Vardha Nicola Bennert, Vardha N. Bennert, Tommaso Treu +8 · 124 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Accretion (finance) #Active galactic nucleus #Astronomy #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics #Black hole (networking) #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Galaxy formation and evolution #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Luminosity #Physics #Quasar #Redshift #Star formation #Stellar mass #astro-ph.CO
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/708/2/1507
published in The Astrophysical Journal 708(2), 1507-1527 (IOP Publishing) · 39 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal
arxiv created 2009/11/20 · openalex publication_date 2009/12/23 · arxiv updated 2014/11/20 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
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 BH ). We study the cosmic evolution of the M BH –spheroid luminosity ( L 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 BH / L sph ∝(1 + z ) 2.8± 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 BH / L sph ∝(1 + z ) 1.4± 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 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 ≃ 1.