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The Warped Nuclear Disk of Radio Galaxy 3C 449
Among radio galaxies containing nuclear dust disks, the bipolar jet axisis generally observed to be perpendicular to the disk major axis. The FRI radio source 3C 449 is an outlier to this statistical majority, as itpossesses a nearly parallel jet/disk orientation on the sky. We examinethe 600 pc dusty disk in this galaxy with images from the Hubble SpaceTelescope. We find that a 1.6 μm/0.7 μm color map of the diskexhibits a twist in its isocolor contours (isochromes). We model thecolor map by integrating galactic starlight through an absorptive diskand find that the anomalous twist in the isochromes can be reproduced inthe model with a vertically thin, warped disk. The model predicts thatthe disk is nearly perpendicular to the jet axis within 100 pc of thenucleus. We discuss physical mechanisms capable of causing such a warp.We show that precessional models or a torque on the disk arising from apossible binary black hole in the AGN causes precession on a timescalethat is too long to account for the predicted disk morphology. However,we estimate that the pressure in the X-ray-emitting interstellar mediumis large enough to perturb the disk, and we argue that jet-drivenanisotropy in the excited ISM may be the cause of the warp. In this way,the warped disk in 3C 449 may be a new manifestation of feedback from anactive galactic nucleus.
| Type I Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies: Transition Stage from ULIRGs to QSOs
We examine whether the ultraluminous infrared galaxies that contain atype 1 Seyfert nucleus (a type I ULIRG) are in the transition stage fromULIRGs to quasi-stellar objects (QSOs). To investigate this issue, wecompare the black hole (BH) mass, the bulge luminosity, and thefar-infrared luminosity among type I ULIRGs, QSOs, and ellipticalgalaxies. As a result, we find the following results: (1) The type IULIRGs have systematically smaller BH masses in spite of the comparablebulge luminosity relative to QSOs and elliptical galaxies. (2) Thefar-infrared luminosity of most type I ULIRGs is larger than theEddington luminosity. We show that the above results do not changesignificantly for three type I ULIRGs for which we can estimate thevisual extinction from the column density. Also, for all eight type IULIRGs, we investigate the effect of uncertainties of BH massmeasurements and our sample bias to make sure that our results are notaltered even if we consider the above two effects. In addition, Anabukirecently revealed that their X-ray properties are similar to those ofthe narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies. These would indicate that activegalactic nuclei (AGNs) with a high mass accretion rate exist in type IULIRGs. On the basis of all of these findings, we conclude that it wouldbe a natural interpretation that type I ULIRGs are the early phase of BHgrowth, namely, the missing link between ULIRGs and QSOs. Moreover, bycomparing our results with a theoretical model of a coevolution scenarioof a QSO BH and a galactic bulge, we show clearly that this explanationcould be valid.
| Understanding the Nuclear Gas Dispersion in Early-Type Galaxies in the Context of Black Hole Demographics
The majority of nearby early-type galaxies contain detectable amounts ofemission-line gas at their centers. The nuclear gas kinematics form avaluable diagnostic of the central black hole (BH) mass. Here we analyzeand model Hubble Space Telescope STIS observations of a sample of 27galaxies; 16 Fanaroff-Riley Type I radio galaxies and 11 (more) normalearly-type galaxies. We focus here on what can be learned from thenuclear velocity dispersion (line width) of the gas as a complement tothe many studies dealing with gas rotation velocities. We find that thedispersion in a STIS aperture of ~0.1"-0.2" generally exceeds thelarge-scale stellar velocity dispersion of the galaxy. This isqualitatively consistent with the presence of central BHs but raises thequestions of whether the excess gas dispersion is of gravitational ornongravitational origin and whether the implied BH masses are consistentwith our current understanding of BH demography (as predicted by theM-σ relation between BH mass and stellar velocity dispersion). Toaddress this we construct purely gravitational axisymmetric dynamicalmodels for the gas, both thin-disk models and models with more generalaxis ratios and velocity anisotropies. For the normal galaxies thenuclear gas dispersions are adequately reproduced assuming disks aroundthe BHs with masses that follow the M-σ relation. In contrast, thegas dispersions observed for the radio galaxies generally exceed thosepredicted by any of the models. We attribute this to the presence ofnongravitational motions in the gas that are similar to or larger thanthe gravitational motions. The nongravitational motions are presumablydriven by the active galactic nucleus (AGN), but we do not find arelation between the radiative output of the AGN and thenongravitational dispersion. Given the uncertainties about the dynamicalstate of the gas, it is not possible to uniquely determine the BH massfor each galaxy from its nuclear gas dispersion. However, for the sampleas a whole the observed dispersions do not provide evidence forsignificant deviations from the M-σ relation.Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope obtainedat the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by theAssociation of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASAcontract NAS5-26555.
| Low-Luminosity Active Galaxies and Their Central Black Holes
Central black hole masses for 117 spiral galaxies representingmorphological stages S0/a through Sc and taken from the largespectroscopic survey of Ho et al. are derived using Ks-banddata from the Two Micron All Sky Survey. Black hole masses are foundusing a calibrated black hole-Ks bulge luminosity relation,while bulge luminosities are measured by means of a two-dimensionalbulge-disk decomposition routine. The black hole masses are correlatedagainst a variety of parameters representing properties of the nucleusand host galaxy. Nuclear properties such as line width (FWHM [N II]), aswell as emission-line ratios (e.g., [O III]/Hβ, [O I]/Hα, [NII]/Hα, and [S II]/Hα), show a very high degree ofcorrelation with black hole mass. The excellent correlation with linewidth supports the view that the emission-line gas is in virialequilibrium with either the black hole or bulge potential. The very goodemission-line ratio correlations may indicate a change in ionizingcontinuum shape with black hole mass in the sense that more massiveblack holes generate harder spectra. Apart from theinclination-corrected rotational velocity, no excellent correlations arefound between black hole mass and host galaxy properties. Significantdifferences are found between the distributions of black hole masses inearly-, mid-, and late-type spiral galaxies (subsamples A, B, and C) inthe sense that early-type galaxies have preferentially larger centralblack holes, consistent with observations that Seyfert galaxies arefound preferentially in early-type systems. The line width distributionsshow a marked difference among subsamples A, B, and C in the sense thatearlier type galaxies have larger line widths. There are also cleardifferences in line ratios between subsamples A+B and C that likely arerelated to the level of ionization in the gas. Finally, aKs-band Simien & de Vaucouleurs diagram shows excellentagreement with the original B-band relation, although there is a largedispersion at a given morphological stage.
| Supermassive Black Holes in Galactic Nuclei: Past, Present and Future Research
This review discusses the current status of supermassive black holeresearch, as seen from a purely observational standpoint. Since theearly ‘90s, rapid technological advances, most notably the launchof the Hubble Space Telescope, the commissioning of the VLBA andimprovements in near-infrared speckle imaging techniques, have not onlygiven us incontrovertible proof of the existence of supermassive blackholes, but have unveiled fundamental connections between the mass of thecentral singularity and the global properties of the host galaxy. It isthanks to these observations that we are now, for the first time, in aposition to understand the origin, evolution and cosmic relevance ofthese fascinating objects.
| Supermassive Black Holes: Shaping Their Surroundings
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| Gamma-ray emissions of AGN and cosmological standard candles
In this work, we compile a sample which contains 71 GeV Gamma-ray-loudActive Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) (14 BL Lacs and 57 FSRQs), 53 FR I radiogalaxies and 63 FR II radio galaxies. We make a nonlinear least-squarefit to this sample, and find that the best fit value of the Hubbleconstant is H0=71.5±3.8 kms-1Mpc-1 with a reduced χ ~= 2.46 by assumingMv = -23.0 and accepting q0 = 1.0, and thecorresponding regression line has a correlation index R ~= 0.78. Thebest fit value of H0 = 71.5±3.8 kms-1Mpc-1 is in well agreement with H0 =72±8 km s-1 obtained by the Hubble Space TelescopeKey Project. Our results show that the GeV Gamma-ray emissions of AGNscan be used as cosmological standard candles indeed.
| The X-ray emission properties and the dichotomy in the central stellar cusp shapes of early-type galaxies
The Hubble Space Telescope has revealed a dichotomy in the centralsurface brightness profiles of early-type galaxies, which havesubsequently been grouped into two families: core, boxy, anisotropicsystems; and cuspy (`power-law'), discy, rotating ones. Here weinvestigate whether a dichotomy is also present in the X-ray propertiesof the two families. We consider both their total soft emission(LSX,tot), which is a measure of the galactic hot gascontent, and their nuclear hard emission (LHX,nuc), mostlycoming from Chandra observations, which is a measure of the nuclearactivity. At any optical luminosity, the highest LSX,totvalues are reached by core galaxies; this is explained by their beingthe central dominant galaxies of groups, subclusters or clusters, inmany of the logLSX,tot (ergs-1) >~ 41.5 cases.The highest LHX,nuc values, similar to those of classicalactive galactic nuclei (AGNs), in this sample are hosted only by core orintermediate galaxies; at low luminosity AGN levels, LHX,nucis independent of the central stellar profile shape. The presence ofoptical nuclei (also found by HST) is unrelated to the level ofLHX,nuc, even though the highest LHX,nuc are allassociated with optical nuclei. The implications of these findings forgalaxy evolution and accretion modalities at the present epoch arediscussed.
| A Fundamental Plane Relation for the X-Ray Gas in Normal Elliptical Galaxies
We report on the discovery of a new correlation between globalparameters of the hot interstellar gas in elliptical galaxies. Wereanalyze archival Chandra data for 30 normal early-type systems,removing the contributions of resolved and unresolved point sources toreveal the X-ray morphology of the hot gas. We determine the half-lightradius, RX, and the mean surface brightness, IX,from the gas surface brightness profiles. A spectral analysis determinesthe temperature, TX, of the gas within 3 optical effectiveradii. We find that the galaxies lie on an X-ray gas fundamental plane(XGFP) of the formTX~R0.28XI0.22X.This is close to, but distinct from, a simple luminosity-temperaturerelation. The intrinsic width of the XGFP is only 0.07 dex, nearlyidentical to that of the stellar (optical) fundamental plane (SFP). Thisis surprising since X-ray gas masses are typically ~10-2 ofthe stellar masses. We show that the XGFP is not a simple consequence ofthe virial theorem or hydrostatic equilibrium and that it is essentiallyindependent of the SFP. The XGFP thus represents a genuinely newconstraint on the hydrodynamical evolution of elliptical galaxies.
| The Epochs of Early-Type Galaxy Formation as a Function of Environment
The aim of this paper is to set constraints on the epochs of early-typegalaxy formation through the ``archaeology'' of the stellar populationsin local galaxies. Using our models of absorption-line indices thataccount for variable abundance ratios, we derive ages, totalmetallicities, and element ratios of 124 early-type galaxies in high-and low-density environments. The data are analyzed by comparison withmock galaxy samples created through Monte Carlo simulations taking thetypical average observational errors into account, in order to eliminateartifacts caused by correlated errors. We find that all threeparameters, age, metallicity, and α/Fe ratio, are correlated withvelocity dispersion. We show that these results are robust againstrecent revisions of the local abundance pattern at high metallicities.To recover the observed scatter we need to assume an intrinsic scatterof about 20% in age, 0.08 dex in [Z/H], and 0.05 dex in [α/Fe].All low-mass objects withM*<~1010Msolar (σ<~130kms-1) show evidence for the presence of intermediate-agestellar populations with low α/Fe ratios. About 20% of theintermediate-mass objects with1010<~M*/Msolar<~1011[110<~σ/(kms-1)<~230 both elliptical andlenticular galaxies] must have either a young subpopulation or a bluehorizontal branch. On the basis of the above relationships, valid forthe bulk of the sample, we show that the Mg-σ relation is mainlydriven by metallicity, with similar contributions from the α/Feratio (23%) and age (17%). We further find evidence for an influence ofthe environment on the stellar population properties. Massive early-typegalaxies in low-density environments seem on average ~2 Gyr younger andslightly (~0.05-0.1 dex) more metal-rich than their counterparts inhigh-density environments. No offsets in the α/Fe ratios areinstead detected. With the aid of a simple chemical evolution model, wetranslate the derived ages and α/Fe ratios into star formationhistories. We show that most star formation activity in early-typegalaxies is expected to have happened between redshifts ~3 and 5 inhigh-density environments and between redshifts 1 and 2 in low-densityenvironments. We conclude that at least 50% of the total stellar massdensity must have already formed at z~1, in good agreement withobservational estimates of the total stellar mass density as a functionof redshift. Our results suggest that significant mass growth in theearly-type galaxy population below z~1 must be restricted to lessmassive objects, and a significant increase of the stellar mass densitybetween redshifts 1 and 2 should be present, caused mainly by the fieldgalaxy population. The results of this paper further imply the presenceof vigorous star formation episodes in massive objects at z~2-5 andevolved elliptical galaxies around z~1, both observationally identifiedas SCUBA galaxies and extremely red objects, respectively.
| Origin of Radio Emission from Nearby Low-Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei
We use the observational data in radio, optical, and X-ray wave bandsfor a sample of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with measured black holemasses to explore the origin of radio emission from nearbylow-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGNs). The maximal luminosityof an advection-dominated accretion flow (ADAF) can be calculated for agiven black hole mass, as there is a critical accretion rate above whichthe ADAF is no longer present. We find that the radio luminosities arehigher than the maximal luminosities expected from the ADAF model formost sources in this sample. This implies that the radio emission ispredominantly from the jets in these sources. The radio emission from asmall fraction of the sources (15/60; referred to as radio-weak sources)in this sample can be explained by the ADAF model. However, comparingthe observed multiband emission data with the spectra calculated for theADAF or adiabatic inflow-outflow solution (ADIOS) cases, we find thatneither ADAF nor ADIOS models can reproduce the observed multibandemission simultaneously, with reasonable magnetic field strengths, forthese radio-weak sources. A variety of other possibilities arediscussed, and we suggest that the radio emission is probably dominatedby jet emission even in these radio-weak LLAGNs.
| The Bologna Complete Sample of Nearby Radio Sources
We present a new, complete sample of 95 radio sources selected from theB2 Catolog of Radio Sources and the Third Cambridge Revised Catalog(3CR), with z<0.1. Since no selection effect on the core radio power,jet velocity, or source orientation is present, this sample is wellsuited for statistical studies. In this first paper we present theobservational status of all sources on the parsec (milliarcsecond) andkiloparsec (arcsecond) scale; we give new parsec-scale data for 28sources and discuss their parsec-scale properties. By combining thesedata with those in the literature, information on the parsec-scalemorphology is available for a total of 53 radio sources with differentradio power and kiloparsec-scale morphologies. We investigate theirproperties. We find a dramatically higher fraction of two-sided sourcesin comparison with that of previous flux-limited VLBI surveys.
| The HST view of the nuclear emission line region in low luminosity radio-galaxies
We study the properties of the emission line regions in two samples oflow luminosity radio-galaxies, while focusing on the Compact EmissionLine Region (CELR) revealed to be a characteristic feature of theseobjects by HST narrow-band imaging. We find a strong correlation betweenline and optical continuum nuclear emission, which suggests that theoptical cores (most likely of non-thermal origin) can be directlyassociated to the source of ionizing photons, i.e. that we are seeing ajet-ionized narrow line region. A photon budget argument indicates thatthe optical nuclear sources produce sufficient photon flux provided thatthe covering factor of the circum-nuclear gas is rather large, onaverage 0.3. Analysis of HST images and spectra suggests that the CELRmay take the form of a pc-scale, high filling factor structure, possiblyan optically thin torus. Estimates of the CELR mass lead to values assmall as 10{-}10^3 Mȯ, and photon counting sets a limitto the Broad Line Region mass of M_BLR < 10-2Mȯ. When considered together with the low accretion rateand the tenuous torus structure, a general paucity of gas in theinnermost regions of low luminosity radio-galaxies emerges as the maincharacterizing difference from more powerful Active Galactic Nuclei.
| A dichotomy in the orientation of dust and radio jets in nearby low-power radio galaxies
We examine the properties of central dust in nearby quiescent and activeearly-type galaxies. The active galaxies are low-power radio galaxieswith Fanaroff & Riley type I or I/II radio jets. We focus on (a) thecomparison of the dust distributions in the active and quiescent galaxysamples; and (b) the relation between the radio jet and dustorientations. Our main observational conclusions are: (i) in line withprevious studies, the dust detection rate is higher in radio-jetgalaxies than in non radio-jet galaxies; (ii) radio galaxies contain ahigher fraction of regular dust “ellipses” compared toquiescent galaxies which contain more often irregular dustdistributions; (iii) the morphology, size and orientation of dustellipses and lanes in quiescent early-types and active early-types withkpc-scale radio jets is very similar; (iv) dust ellipses are alignedwith the major axis of the galaxy, dust lanes do not show a preferredalignment except for large (>kpc) dust lanes which are aligned withthe minor axis of the galaxy; and (v) as projected on the sky, jets donot show a preferred orientation relative to the galaxy major axis (andhence dust ellipses), but jets are preferentially perpendicular to dustlanes. We show that the dust ellipses are consistent with being nearlycircular thin disks viewed at random viewing angles. The lanes arelikely warped dust structures, which may be in the process of settlingdown to become regular disks or are being perturbed by anon-gravitational force. We use the observed dust-jet orientations toconstrain the three-dimensional angle θDJ between jetand dust. For dust-lane galaxies, the jet is approximately perpendicularto the dust structure, while for dust-ellipse galaxies there is a muchwider distribution of θDJ. We discuss two scenariosthat could explain the dust/jet/galaxy orientation dichotomy. If lanesare indeed settling, then the jet orientation apparently is roughlyaligned with the angular momentum of the dust before it settles. Iflanes are perturbed by a jet-related force, it appears that it causesthe dust to move out of its equilibrium plane in the galaxy into a planewhich is perpendicular to the jet.
| The supermassive black hole in the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 5252
We present results from HST/STIS long-slit spectroscopy of the gasmotions in the nuclear region of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 5252. Theobserved velocity field is consistent with gas in regular rotation withsuperposed localized patches of disturbed gas. The dynamics of thecircumnuclear gas can be accurately reproduced by adding to the stellarmass component a compact dark mass of MBH = 0.95(-0.45;+1.45) × 109 Mȯ, very likely asupermassive black hole (BH). Contrarily to results obtained in similarstudies rotational broadening is sufficient to reproduce also thebehaviour of line widths. The BH mass estimated for NGC 5252 is in goodagreement with the correlation between MBH and bulge mass.The comparison with the MBH vs. σcrelationship is less stringent (mostly due to the relatively large errorin σc); NGC 5252 is located above the best fit line bybetween 0.3 and 1.2 dex, i.e. 1-4 times the dispersion of thecorrelation. Both the galaxy's and BH mass of NGC 5252 are substantiallylarger than those usually estimated for Seyfert galaxies but, on theother hand, they are typical of radio-quiet quasars. Combining thedetermined BH mass with the hard X-ray luminosity, we estimate that NGC5252 is emitting at a fraction 0.005 of LEdd. In thissense, this active nucleus appears to be a quasar relic, now probablyaccreting at a low rate, rather than a low black hole mass counterpartof a QSO.Based on observations obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute,which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research inAstronomy, Incorporated, under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.
| A transition in the accretion properties of radio-loud active nuclei
We present evidence for the presence of a transition in the accretionproperties of radio-loud sources. For a sample of radio galaxies andradio-loud quasars, selected based on their extended radio properties,the accretion rate is estimated from the black hole mass and nuclearluminosity. The inferred distribution is bimodal, with a paucity ofsources at accretion rates, in Eddington units, of the order of~10-2- assuming a radiative efficiency of 10 per cent - andpossibly spanning 1-2 orders of magnitude. Selection biases are unlikelyto be responsible for such behaviour. We discuss possible physicalexplanations, including a fast transition to low accretion rates, achange in the accretion mode/actual accretion rate/radiative efficiency,the lack of stable disc solutions at intermediate accretion rates or theinefficiency of the jet formation processes in geometrically thin flows.This transition might be analogous to spectral states (and jet)transitions in black hole binary systems.
| Modelling galactic spectra - II. Simultaneous study of stellar dynamics and stellar mix in NGC 3258
In this paper we adopt a method to analyse absorption-line spectra fromelliptical galaxies that determines the dynamics of the galaxy and atthe same time offers a way to study the stellar populations in thatgalaxy by a direct fit to the spectra. The result of the modelling is adistribution function for each stellar population that is considered inthe fit. The method is described in detail in the accompanying paper.This paper reports on a dynamical stellar population study in NGC 3258,based on spectra in two different wavelength regions, the near-infraredCa II triplet around 8600 Å and the Ca H and K lines around 3900Å. These absorption lines have discriminating power towardsvarious stellar types. The dynamical model shows an increase in dwarfs(represented by G2V stars) towards the centre. Most of the rotation inthe model is delivered by the giants (represented by M1III stars).Moreover, the different models that were considered indicate thatestablishing a potential for a galaxy is dependent on the wavelengthrange used for the modelling.
| Emission Line Properties of Active Galactic Nuclei from a Post-COSTAR Hubble Space Telescope Faint Object Spectrograph Spectral Atlas
We present consistent emission-line measurements for active galacticnuclei (AGNs), useful for reliable statistical studies of emission lineproperties. This paper joins a series including similar measurements of993 spectra from the Large Bright Quasar Survey and 174 spectra of AGNsobtained from the Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS) on the Hubble SpaceTelescope (HST) prior to the installation of COSTAR. This time weconcentrate on 220 spectra obtained with the FOS after the installationof COSTAR, completing the emission line analysis of all FOS archivalspectra. We use the same automated technique as in previous papers,which accounts for Galactic extinction, models blended optical and UViron emission, includes Galactic and intrinsic absorption lines, andmodels emission lines using multiple Gaussians. We present UV andoptical emission line parameters (equivalent widths, fluxes, FWHM, andline positions) for a large number (28) of emission lines includingupper limits for undetected lines. Further scientific analyses will bepresented in subsequent papers.
| Obscuration and Origin of Nuclear X-Ray Emission in FR I Radio Galaxies
We present X-ray observations of the nuclear region of 25 Fanaroff-Rileytype I (FR I) radio galaxies from the 3CRR and B2 catalogs, using datafrom the Chandra and XMM-Newton archives. We find the presence of aX-ray central compact core (CCCX) in 13/25 sources; in 3/25 sources thedetection of a CCCX is uncertain, while in the remaining 9/25 sources noCCCX is found. All the sources are embedded in a diffuse soft X-raycomponent, generally on kiloparsec scales, which is in agreement withthe halo of the host galaxy and/or with the intracluster medium. TheX-ray spectra of the cores are described by a power law with photonindices Γ=1.1-2.6. In eight sources excess absorption over theGalactic value is detected, with rest-frame column densitiesNzH~1020-1021cm-2 thus, we confirm the previous claim, based on opticaldata, that most FR I radio galaxies lack a standard optically thicktorus. We find significant correlations between the X-ray coreluminosity and the radio and optical luminosities, suggesting that atleast a fraction of the X-ray emission originates in a jet; however, theorigin of the X-rays remains ambiguous. If the X-ray emission isentirely attributed to an isotropic, accretion-related component, wefind very small Eddington ratios,Lbol/LEdd~10-3to10-8, and wecalculate the radiative efficiency to beη~10-2to10-6 on the basis of the Bondiaccretion rates from the spatial analysis. This suggests thatradiatively inefficient accretion flows are present in the cores oflow-power radio galaxies.
| On the Black Hole Mass-Bulge Mass Relation
We have reexamined the relation between the mass of the central blackholes in nearby galaxies, Mbh, and the stellar mass of thesurrounding spheroid or bulge, Mbulge. For a total of 30galaxies bulge masses were derived through Jeans equation modeling oradopted from dynamical models in the literature. In stellarmass-to-light ratios, the spheroids and bulges span a range of a factorof 8. The bulge masses were related to well-determined black hole massestaken from the literature. With these improved values forMbh, compared to Magorrian et al., and our redetermination ofMbulge, we find that the Mbh-Mbulgerelation becomes very tight. We findMbh~M1.12+/-0.06bulge with an observedscatter of <~0.30 dex, a fraction of which can be attributed tomeasurement errors. The scatter in this relation is therefore comparableto the scatter in the relations of Mbh with σ and thestellar concentration. These results confirm and refine the work ofMarconi & Hunt. For Mbulge~5×1010Msolar the median black hole mass is 0.14%+/-0.04% of thebulge mass.
| Optical nuclei of radio-loud AGN and the Fanaroff-Riley divide
We investigate the nature of the point-like optical nuclei that havebeen found in the centres of the host galaxies of a majority of radiogalaxies by the Hubble Space Telescope. We examine the evidence thatthese optical nuclei are relativistically beamed, and look fordifferences in the behaviour of the nuclei found in radio galaxies ofthe two Fanaroff-Riley types. We also attempt to relate this behaviourto the properties of the optical nuclei in their highly beamedcounterparts (the BL Lac objects and radio-loud quasars) as hypothesizedby the simple Unified Scheme. Simple model-fitting of the data suggeststhat the emission may be coming from a non-thermal relativistic jet. Itis also suggestive that the contribution from an accretion disk is notsignificant for the FRI objects and for the narrow-line radio galaxiesof FRII type, while it may be significant for the Broad-line objects,and consistent with the idea that the FRII optical nuclei seem to sufferfrom extinction due to an obscuring torus while the FRI optical nucleido not. These results are broadly in agreement with the Unified Schemefor radio-loud AGNs.Appendix C is only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org
| The Realm of the Supermassive Black Holes
Not Available
| Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph Spectroscopy of the Emission-Line Gas in the Nuclei of Nearby FR-I Galaxies
We present the results of the analysis of a set of medium-resolutionspectra, obtained by the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on boardthe Hubble Space Telescope, of the emission-line gas present in thenuclei of a complete sample of 21 nearby, early-type galaxies with radiojets (the UGC FR-I Sample). For each galaxy nucleus we presentspectroscopic data in the region of Hα and the derived kinematics.We find that in 67% of the nuclei the gas appears to be rotating and,with one exception, the cases where rotation is not seen are eitherface-on or have complex central morphologies. We find that in 62% of thenuclei the fit to the central spectrum is improved by the inclusion of abroad component. The broad components have a mean velocity dispersion of1349+/-345 km s-1 and are redshifted from the narrow linecomponents (assuming an origin in Hα) by 486+/-443 kms-1.Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtainedat the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by theAssociation of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASAcontract NAS 5-26555.
| The Relation between Black Hole Mass, Bulge Mass, and Near-Infrared Luminosity
We present new accurate near-infrared (NIR) spheroid (bulge) structuralparameters obtained by a two-dimensional image analysis of all galaxieswith a direct black hole (BH) mass determination. As expected, NIR bulgeluminosities Lbul and BH masses are tightly correlated, andif we consider only those galaxies with a secure BH mass measurement andan accurate Lbul (27 objects), the spread ofMBH-Lbul is similar toMBH-σe, where σe is theeffective stellar velocity dispersion. We find an intrinsic rms scatterof ~=0.3 dex in logMBH. By combining the bulge effectiveradii Re measured in our analysis with σe,we find a tight linear correlation (rms~=0.25 dex) betweenMBH and the virial bulge mass(~Reσ2e), with~0.002. A partial correlationanalysis shows that MBH depends on both σeand Re and that both variables are necessary to drive thecorrelations between MBH and other bulge properties.
| Redshift-Distance Survey of Early-Type Galaxies: Spectroscopic Data
We present central velocity dispersions and Mg2 line indicesfor an all-sky sample of ~1178 elliptical and S0 galaxies, of which 984had no previous measures. This sample contains the largest set ofhomogeneous spectroscopic data for a uniform sample of ellipticalgalaxies in the nearby universe. These galaxies were observed as part ofthe ENEAR project, designed to study the peculiar motions and internalproperties of the local early-type galaxies. Using 523 repeatedobservations of 317 galaxies obtained during different runs, the dataare brought to a common zero point. These multiple observations, takenduring the many runs and different instrumental setups employed for thisproject, are used to derive statistical corrections to the data and arefound to be relatively small, typically <~5% of the velocitydispersion and 0.01 mag in the Mg2 line strength. Typicalerrors are about 8% in velocity dispersion and 0.01 mag inMg2, in good agreement with values published elsewhere.
| A new catalogue of ISM content of normal galaxies
We have compiled a catalogue of the gas content for a sample of 1916galaxies, considered to be a fair representation of ``normality''. Thedefinition of a ``normal'' galaxy adopted in this work implies that wehave purposely excluded from the catalogue galaxies having distortedmorphology (such as interaction bridges, tails or lopsidedness) and/orany signature of peculiar kinematics (such as polar rings,counterrotating disks or other decoupled components). In contrast, wehave included systems hosting active galactic nuclei (AGN) in thecatalogue. This catalogue revises previous compendia on the ISM contentof galaxies published by \citet{bregman} and \citet{casoli}, andcompiles data available in the literature from several small samples ofgalaxies. Masses for warm dust, atomic and molecular gas, as well asX-ray luminosities have been converted to a uniform distance scale takenfrom the Catalogue of Principal Galaxies (PGC). We have used twodifferent normalization factors to explore the variation of the gascontent along the Hubble sequence: the blue luminosity (LB)and the square of linear diameter (D225). Ourcatalogue significantly improves the statistics of previous referencecatalogues and can be used in future studies to define a template ISMcontent for ``normal'' galaxies along the Hubble sequence. The cataloguecan be accessed on-line and is also available at the Centre desDonnées Stellaires (CDS).The catalogue is available in electronic form athttp://dipastro.pd.astro.it/galletta/ismcat and at the CDS via anonymousftp to\ cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via\http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/405/5
| The black hole mass of low redshift radiogalaxies
We make use of two empirical relations between the black hole mass andthe global properties (bulge luminosity and stellar velocity dispersion)of nearby elliptical galaxies, to infer the mass of the central blackhole (CM MBH) in low redshift radiogalaxies. Using the mostrecent determinations of black hole masses for inactive early typegalaxies we show that the bulge luminosity and the central velocitydispersion are almost equally correlated (similar scatter) with thecentral black-hole mass. Applying these relations to two large andhomogeneous datasets of radiogalaxies we find that they host black-holeswhose mass ranges from ~ 5*E7 to ~ 6*E9CMMsun (average ~ 8.9). CMMBH is found to be proportional to the mass of the bulge (CMMbulge). The distribution of the ratio CM MBH/CMMbulge has a mean value of 8*E-4 and shows ascatter that is consistent with that expected from the associatederrors. At variance with previous claims no significant correlation isinstead found between CM MBH (or CM Mbulge) andthe radio power at 5 GHz.
| Core Radio and Optical Emission in the Nuclei of nearby FR I Radio Galaxies
In this paper we analyze the relation between radio, optical continuumand Hα+[N II] emission from the cores of a sample of 21 nearbyFanaroff and Riley type I galaxies as observed with the VLBA and HST.The emission arises inside the inner tens of parsecs of the galaxies.Core radio emission is observed in 19/20 galaxies, optical corecontinuum emission is detected in 12/21 galaxies and Hα+[N II]core emission is detected in 20/21 galaxies. We confirm the recentlydetected linear correlation between radio and optical core emission inFR I galaxies and show that both core emissions also correlate withcentral Hα+[N II] emission. The tight correlations between radio,optical, and Hα+[N II] core emission constrain the bulk Lorentzfactor to γ~2-5 and γ<~2 for a continuous jet and a jetconsisting of discrete blobs, respectively, assuming jet-viewing anglesin the range 30°-90°. Radio and optical core emissions arelikely to be synchrotron radiation from the inner jet, possibly with asignificant contribution from emission by an accretion disk and/or flow.Elliptical galaxies with LINER nuclei without large-scale radio jetsseem to follow the core emission correlations found in FR I galaxies.This suggests that the central engines could be very similar for the twoclasses of active galactic nuclei. Based on observations with theNASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope obtained at the Space Telescope ScienceInstitute, which is operated by the Association of Universities forResearch in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.
| Evidence for black holes
As an important test for General Relativity, the existence of a blackhole is always the focus of physicists and astronomers. Particularly inthese years, since a large number of advanced observational facilitiesare put into use and the techniques improved, the search for theevidence for black holes have made great progress, becoming one ofastronomical researching hotspots. In this paper, evidence for stellarblack holes and super-massive black holes in galactic nuclei isreviewed, and the great advances in black hole astrophysics are alsointroduced. Finally, we discuss some great developing projects and theprimary results of pursuing primordial black holes. The suggestions forobservations and the respect of astronomical evidence for black holesare put forward.
| Spectral energy distributions of five FR I radio galaxies
We discuss the multi-wavelength properties of the radio galaxies 3C 31,3C 264, 3C 270, 3C 465 and NGC 7052. The data have been deduced fromobservations with the VLBI/VLA arrays, HST and ROSAT. The SED of thesesources, when compared with that of BL Lacs shows that beaming effectsare important, but are not enough-in the simplest scenario-to explainthe different properties of these two classes of objects. No relevantobscuration from inner tori seems to occur.
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