The impact of black hole scaling relation assumptions on the mass density of black holes

Matt, Cayenne; Gültekin, Kayhan; Simon, Joseph

doi:10.1093/mnras/stad2146

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 101 publications

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“…These relations can be improved as more electromagnetic data are collected, particularly about more distant galaxies. The relations are based entirely on bulge mass and could be expanded by including velocity dispersion (Matt et al 2023;Simon 2023).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond the Background: Gravitational-wave Anisotropy and Continuous Waves from Supermassive Black Hole Binaries

Gardiner,

Kelley,

Lemke

et al. 2024

ApJ

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Pulsar timing arrays have found evidence for a low-frequency gravitational-wave background (GWB). Assuming that the GWB is produced by supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs), the next gravitational-wave (GW) signals astronomers anticipate are continuous waves (CWs) from single SMBHBs and their associated GWB anisotropy. The prospects for detecting CWs and anisotropy are highly dependent on the astrophysics of SMBHB populations. Thus, information from single sources can break degeneracies in astrophysical models and place much more stringent constraints than the GWB alone. We simulate and evolve SMBHB populations, model their GWs, and calculate their anisotropy and detectability. We investigate how varying components of our semianalytic model, including the galaxy stellar mass function, the SMBH–host galaxy relation (M BH–M bulge), and the binary evolution prescription, impact the expected detections. The CW occurrence rate is greatest for few total binaries, high SMBHB masses, large scatter in M BH–M bulge, and long hardening times. The occurrence rate depends most on the binary evolution parameters, implying that CWs offer a novel avenue to probe binary evolution. The most detectable CW sources are in the lowest frequency bin for a 16.03 yr PTA, have masses from ∼109 to 1010 M ⊙, and are ∼1 Gpc away. The level of anisotropy increases with frequency, with the angular power spectrum over multipole modes ℓ varying in low-frequency C ℓ>0/C 0 from ∼5 × 10−3 to ∼2 × 10−1, depending on the model; typical values are near current upper limits. Observing this anisotropy would support SMBHB models for the GWB over cosmological models, which tend to be isotropic.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond the Background: Gravitational-wave Anisotropy and Continuous Waves from Supermassive Black Hole Binaries

Gardiner,

Kelley,

Lemke

et al. 2024

ApJ

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A Stellar Dynamical Mass Measurement of the Supermassive Black Hole in NGC 3258

Waters,

Gültekin,

Gebhardt

et al. 2024

ApJ

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We present a stellar dynamical mass measurement of the supermassive black hole in the elliptical (E1) galaxy NGC 3258. Our findings are based on integral field unit spectroscopy from the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) observations in narrow-field mode with adaptive optics and the MUSE wide-field mode, from which we extract kinematic information by fitting the Ca ii and Mg b triplets, respectively. Using axisymmetric, three-integral Schwarzschild orbit library models, we fit the observed line-of-sight velocity distributions to infer the supermassive black hole mass, the H-band mass-to-light ratio, the asymptotic circular velocity, and the dark matter halo scale radius of the galaxy. We report a black hole mass of (2.2 ± 0.2) × 109 M ⊙ at an assumed distance of 31.9 Mpc. This value is in close agreement with a previous measurement from Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array CO observations. The consistency between these two measurements provides strong support for both the gas dynamical and stellar dynamical methods.

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High-redshift Merger Model for Low-frequency Gravitational Wave Background

Wu,

Giannios

2024

ApJ

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In 2023, the Pulsar Timing Array Collaborations announced the discovery of a gravitational wave background (GWB), predominantly attributed to supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) mergers. However, the detected GWB is several times stronger than the default value expected from galactic observations at low and moderate redshifts. Recent findings by the James Webb Space Telescope have unveiled a substantial number of massive, high-redshift galaxies, suggesting more massive SMBHB mergers at these early epochs. Motivated by these findings, we propose an “early merger” model that complements the standard merger statistics by incorporating these early, massive galaxies. We compare the early and standard “late merger” models, which assume peak merger rates in the local Universe, and match both merger models to the currently detected GWB. Our analysis shows that the early merger model has a significantly lower detection probability for single binaries and predicts a ∼30% likelihood that the first detectable single source will be highly redshifted and remarkably massive with rapid frequency evolution. In contrast, the late merger model predicts a nearly monochromatic first source at low redshift. The future confirmation of an enhanced population of massive high-redshift galaxies and the detection of fast-evolving binaries would strongly support the early merger model, offering significant insights into the evolution of galaxies and SMBHs.

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The impact of black hole scaling relation assumptions on the mass density of black holes

Cited by 4 publications

References 101 publications

Beyond the Background: Gravitational-wave Anisotropy and Continuous Waves from Supermassive Black Hole Binaries

Beyond the Background: Gravitational-wave Anisotropy and Continuous Waves from Supermassive Black Hole Binaries

A Stellar Dynamical Mass Measurement of the Supermassive Black Hole in NGC 3258

High-redshift Merger Model for Low-frequency Gravitational Wave Background

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