Bibcode
Davis, Benjamin L.; Berrier, J. C.; Johns, L.; Shields, D. W.; Kennefick, D.; Kennefick, J.; Seigar, M. S.; Lacy, C. H. S.
Referencia bibliográfica
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #220, #430.08
Fecha de publicación:
5
2012
Número de citas
0
Número de citas referidas
0
Descripción
Here we present our determination of the black hole - mass function for
spiral galaxies in our local universe. We have established our black
hole - mass function from a volume-limited sample, consisting of a
statistically complete collection of the brightest spiral galaxies in
the Southern (δ < 0°) hemisphere. The volume-limited sample
is defined by a limiting redshift of z = 0.0068 and a limiting absolute
B-band magnitude of M_B = -19.528. These limits define a sample of 140
spiral galaxies. We have measured pitch angles for 102 of these (the
remainder did not allow for accurate measurement) and established the
pitch angle distribution function for this volume-limited sample. We
then used our established relationship between the logarithmic spiral
arm pitch angle and the mass of the central supermassive black hole in a
host galaxy in order to indirectly estimate the mass of the 102
respective supermassive black holes in this volume-limited sample. This
result effectively gives us the distribution of mass for supermassive
black holes residing in spiral galaxies over the past ≈94.5 Myr of
the history of the universe and contained within a comoving volume of
≈50,000 cubic Mpc. The authors gratefully acknowledge support for
this work from NASA Grant NNX08AW03A.