The mass of the central black hole in the nearby Seyfert galaxy NGC 5273

Misty C. Bentz; Daniel Horenstein; Craig Bazhaw; Emily R. Manne-Nicholas; Benjamin J. Ou-Yang; Matthew Anderson; Jeremy Jones; Ryan P. Norris; J. Robert Parks; Dicy Saylor; Katherine G. Teems; Clay Turner

doi:10.1088/0004-637X/796/1/8

The mass of the central black hole in the nearby Seyfert galaxy NGC 5273

Misty C. Bentz, Daniel Horenstein, Craig Bazhaw, Emily R. Manne-Nicholas, Benjamin J. Ou-Yang, Matthew Anderson, Jeremy Jones, Ryan P. Norris, J. Robert Parks, Dicy Saylor, Katherine G. Teems, Clay Turner

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

40 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present the results of a reverberation-mapping program targeting NGC 5273, a nearby early-type galaxy with a broad-lined active galactic nucleus (AGN). Over the course of the monitoring program, NGC 5273 showed strong variability that allowed us to measure time delays in the responses of the broad optical recombination lines to changes in the continuum flux. A weighted average of these measurements results in a black hole mass determination of M _BH = (4.7 ± 1.6) × 10⁶ M _⊙. An estimate of the size of the black hole sphere of influence in NGC 5273 puts it just at the limit of the resolution achievable with current ground-based large aperture telescopes. NGC 5273 is therefore an important future target for a black hole mass determination from stellar dynamical modeling, especially because it is the only nearby early-type galaxy hosting an AGN with a reverberation-based mass, allowing the best comparison for the masses determined from these two techniques.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	8
Journal	Astrophysical Journal
Volume	796
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/796/1/8
State	Published - Nov 20 2014
Externally published	Yes

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© 2014. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

Keywords

galaxies: active
galaxies: nuclei
galaxies: Seyfert

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10.1088/0004-637X/796/1/8

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title = "The mass of the central black hole in the nearby Seyfert galaxy NGC 5273",

abstract = "We present the results of a reverberation-mapping program targeting NGC 5273, a nearby early-type galaxy with a broad-lined active galactic nucleus (AGN). Over the course of the monitoring program, NGC 5273 showed strong variability that allowed us to measure time delays in the responses of the broad optical recombination lines to changes in the continuum flux. A weighted average of these measurements results in a black hole mass determination of M BH = (4.7 ± 1.6) × 106 M ⊙. An estimate of the size of the black hole sphere of influence in NGC 5273 puts it just at the limit of the resolution achievable with current ground-based large aperture telescopes. NGC 5273 is therefore an important future target for a black hole mass determination from stellar dynamical modeling, especially because it is the only nearby early-type galaxy hosting an AGN with a reverberation-based mass, allowing the best comparison for the masses determined from these two techniques.",

keywords = "galaxies: active, galaxies: nuclei, galaxies: Seyfert",

author = "Bentz, {Misty C.} and Daniel Horenstein and Craig Bazhaw and Manne-Nicholas, {Emily R.} and Ou-Yang, {Benjamin J.} and Matthew Anderson and Jeremy Jones and Norris, {Ryan P.} and Parks, {J. Robert} and Dicy Saylor and Teems, {Katherine G.} and Clay Turner",

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doi = "10.1088/0004-637X/796/1/8",

language = "English (US)",

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T1 - The mass of the central black hole in the nearby Seyfert galaxy NGC 5273

AU - Bentz, Misty C.

AU - Horenstein, Daniel

AU - Bazhaw, Craig

AU - Manne-Nicholas, Emily R.

AU - Ou-Yang, Benjamin J.

AU - Anderson, Matthew

AU - Jones, Jeremy

AU - Norris, Ryan P.

AU - Parks, J. Robert

AU - Saylor, Dicy

AU - Teems, Katherine G.

AU - Turner, Clay

PY - 2014/11/20

Y1 - 2014/11/20

N2 - We present the results of a reverberation-mapping program targeting NGC 5273, a nearby early-type galaxy with a broad-lined active galactic nucleus (AGN). Over the course of the monitoring program, NGC 5273 showed strong variability that allowed us to measure time delays in the responses of the broad optical recombination lines to changes in the continuum flux. A weighted average of these measurements results in a black hole mass determination of M BH = (4.7 ± 1.6) × 106 M ⊙. An estimate of the size of the black hole sphere of influence in NGC 5273 puts it just at the limit of the resolution achievable with current ground-based large aperture telescopes. NGC 5273 is therefore an important future target for a black hole mass determination from stellar dynamical modeling, especially because it is the only nearby early-type galaxy hosting an AGN with a reverberation-based mass, allowing the best comparison for the masses determined from these two techniques.

AB - We present the results of a reverberation-mapping program targeting NGC 5273, a nearby early-type galaxy with a broad-lined active galactic nucleus (AGN). Over the course of the monitoring program, NGC 5273 showed strong variability that allowed us to measure time delays in the responses of the broad optical recombination lines to changes in the continuum flux. A weighted average of these measurements results in a black hole mass determination of M BH = (4.7 ± 1.6) × 106 M ⊙. An estimate of the size of the black hole sphere of influence in NGC 5273 puts it just at the limit of the resolution achievable with current ground-based large aperture telescopes. NGC 5273 is therefore an important future target for a black hole mass determination from stellar dynamical modeling, especially because it is the only nearby early-type galaxy hosting an AGN with a reverberation-based mass, allowing the best comparison for the masses determined from these two techniques.

KW - galaxies: active

KW - galaxies: nuclei

KW - galaxies: Seyfert

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VL - 796

JO - Astrophysical Journal

JF - Astrophysical Journal

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ER -

The mass of the central black hole in the nearby Seyfert galaxy NGC 5273

Abstract

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Keywords

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