%0 Generic %1 walsh2013black %A Walsh, Jonelle L. %A Barth, Aaron J. %A Ho, Luis C. %A Sarzi, Marc %D 2013 %K blackhole gas ionized mass %T The M87 Black Hole Mass from Gas-dynamical Models of Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph Observations %U http://arxiv.org/abs/1304.7273 %X The supermassive black hole of M87 is one of the most massive black holes known and has been the subject of several stellar and gas-dynamical mass measurements; however the most recent revision to the stellar-dynamical black hole mass measurement is a factor of about two larger than the previous gas-dynamical determinations. Here, we apply comprehensive gas-dynamical models that include the propagation of emission-line profiles through the telescope and spectrograph optics to new Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. Unlike the previous gas-dynamical studies of M87, we map out the complete kinematic structure of the emission-line disk within about 40 pc from the nucleus, and find that a small amount of velocity dispersion internal to the gas disk is required to match the observed line widths. We examine a scenario in which the intrinsic velocity dispersion provides dynamical support to the disk, and determine that the inferred black hole mass increases by only 6%. Incorporating this effect into the error budget, we ultimately measure a mass of M_BH = (3.5^+0.9_-0.7) x 10^9 M_sun (68% confidence). Our gas-dynamical black hole mass continues to differ from the most recent stellar-dynamical mass by a factor of two, underscoring the need for carrying out more cross-checks between the two main black hole mass measurement methods.

@misc{walsh2013black, abstract = {The supermassive black hole of M87 is one of the most massive black holes known and has been the subject of several stellar and gas-dynamical mass measurements; however the most recent revision to the stellar-dynamical black hole mass measurement is a factor of about two larger than the previous gas-dynamical determinations. Here, we apply comprehensive gas-dynamical models that include the propagation of emission-line profiles through the telescope and spectrograph optics to new Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. Unlike the previous gas-dynamical studies of M87, we map out the complete kinematic structure of the emission-line disk within about 40 pc from the nucleus, and find that a small amount of velocity dispersion internal to the gas disk is required to match the observed line widths. We examine a scenario in which the intrinsic velocity dispersion provides dynamical support to the disk, and determine that the inferred black hole mass increases by only 6%. Incorporating this effect into the error budget, we ultimately measure a mass of M_BH = (3.5^{+0.9}_{-0.7}) x 10^9 M_sun (68% confidence). Our gas-dynamical black hole mass continues to differ from the most recent stellar-dynamical mass by a factor of two, underscoring the need for carrying out more cross-checks between the two main black hole mass measurement methods.}, added-at = {2013-04-30T17:16:12.000+0200}, author = {Walsh, Jonelle L. and Barth, Aaron J. and Ho, Luis C. and Sarzi, Marc}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/26658aabb58e205e04e7f36d2cc9dc43d/miki}, description = {[1304.7273] The M87 Black Hole Mass from Gas-dynamical Models of Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph Observations}, interhash = {e4f333a296e5c491958d5d37da73a732}, intrahash = {6658aabb58e205e04e7f36d2cc9dc43d}, keywords = {blackhole gas ionized mass}, note = {cite arxiv:1304.7273Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ}, timestamp = {2013-04-30T17:16:12.000+0200}, title = {The M87 Black Hole Mass from Gas-dynamical Models of Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph Observations}, url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/1304.7273}, year = 2013 }