New Methods for Measuring Supermassive Black Hole Masses in Active Galactic Nuclei

Recent research has focused on the mass measurements of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in active galactic nuclei (AGN) using data from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. The study, conducted by Sarah Casura and colleagues, explores various methods for estimating SMBH masses based on optical imaging and compares these estimates with those derived from spectroscopic data.

The authors selected a sample of 28 type 1 AGN hosted by nearby galaxies. They employed multi-component spectral decomposition to extract the AGN component and calculated SMBH masses from the broad Hα emission line width and luminosity. The research utilized photometric data from the $g$ and $i$ bands, decomposing it into AGN and spheroid components with careful surface brightness fitting.

Findings indicate that there is no correlation between the Hα-derived SMBH masses and those based on the spheroid Sérsic index or effective radius. However, significant correlations were found with methods based on bulge or galaxy stellar mass, despite considerable scatter and systematic offsets. The study discusses the implications of these results for future high-quality ground-based and space-borne surveys aimed at estimating SMBH masses in large numbers of AGN.

This research contributes to a better understanding of the methods used to measure SMBH masses, which is crucial for advancing knowledge in astrophysics and the dynamics of galaxies. The full paper can be referenced as: Casura, S., Ilić, D., Targaczewski, J., Rakić, N., & Liske, J. (2024). Exploring mass measurements of supermassive black holes in AGN using GAMA photometry and spectroscopy. arXiv:2408.17275.