Events

 
Speaker: Jenny Greene, Princeton University

Title: "Black Hole Masses from Megamaser Dynamics: Deconstructing the 
M_bh-sigma* relation"

Abstract: We present spectacular new dynamical black hole (BH) mass measurements
based on maser kinematics in nearby active galaxies and use them to
constrain the shape of BH-bulge scaling relations in late-type
galaxies.  These extremely robust masses demonstrate definitively that
the relations between BHs and galaxies change at low mass.  In
particular, the scatter is substantially larger than in more massive
elliptical galaxies and, at a given bulge luminosity, we find that these
BHs are nearly an order of magnitude less massive than their
elliptical counterparts.  BH growth efficiency per unit stellar mass
apparently drops in late-type (or low-mass) galaxies.  We discuss
implications for the shape of the BH mass function, normalization of
BH mass measurements in active systems, and the origin of BH-bulge scaling
relations.