Bibcode
Gravity Collaboration; Amorim, A.; Bauböck, M.; Brandner, W.; Clénet, Y.; Davies, R.; de Zeeuw, P. T.; Dexter, J.; Eckart, A.; Eisenhauer, F.; Förster Schreiber, N. M.; Gao, F.; Garcia, P. J. V.; Genzel, R.; Gillessen, S.; Gratadour, D.; Hönig, S.; Kishimoto, M.; Lacour, S.; Lutz, D.; Millour, F.; Netzer, H.; Ott, T.; Paumard, T.; Perraut, K.; Perrin, G.; Peterson, B. M.; Petrucci, P. O.; Pfuhl, O.; Prieto, M. A.; Rouan, D.; Shangguan, J.; Shimizu, T.; Schartmann, M.; Stadler, J.; Sternberg, A.; Straub, O.; Straubmeier, C.; Sturm, E.; Tacconi, L. J.; Tristram, K. R. W.; Vermot, P.; von Fellenberg, S.; Waisberg, I.; Widmann, F.; Woillez, J.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Advertised on:
11
2020
Journal
Citations
62
Refereed citations
53
Description
We present new near-infrared VLTI/GRAVITY interferometric spectra that spatially resolve the broad Brγ emission line in the nucleus of the active galaxy IRAS 09149-6206. We use these data to measure the size of the broad line region (BLR) and estimate the mass of the central black hole. Using an improved phase calibration method that reduces the differential phase uncertainty to 0.05° per baseline across the spectrum, we detect a differential phase signal that reaches a maximum of ∼0.5° between the line and continuum. This represents an offset of ∼120 μas (0.14 pc) between the BLR and the centroid of the hot dust distribution traced by the 2.3 μm continuum. The offset is well within the dust sublimation region, which matches the measured ∼0.6 mas (0.7 pc) diameter of the continuum. A clear velocity gradient, almost perpendicular to the offset, is traced by the reconstructed photocentres of the spectral channels of the Brγ line. We infer the radius of the BLR to be ∼65 μas (0.075 pc), which is consistent with the radius-luminosity relation of nearby active galactic nuclei derived based on the time lag of the Hβ line from reverberation mapping campaigns. Our dynamical modelling indicates the black hole mass is ∼1 × 108 M☉, which is a little below, but consistent with, the standard MBH-σ* relation.
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The Central PARSEC of Galaxies using High Spatial Resolution Techniques
PARSEC is a multi-wavelength investigation of the central PARSEC of the nearest galaxies. We work on black-hole accretion and its most energetic manifestations: jets and hot spots, and on its circumnuclear environment conditions for star formation. We resort to the highest available angular resolution observations from gamma-rays to the centimetre
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