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- Title
Probing the Low-Mass End of the Black Hole Mass Function via a Study of Faint Local Spiral Galaxies.
- Authors
Fusco, Michael S.; Davis, Benjamin L.; Kennefick, Julia; Kennefick, Daniel; Seigar, Marc S.
- Abstract
We present an analysis of the pitch angle distribution function (PADF) for nearby galaxies and its resulting black hole mass function (BHMF) via the well-known relationship between pitch angle and black hole mass. Our sample consists of a subset of 74 spiral galaxies from the Carnegie-Irvine Galaxy Survey with absolute B-band magnitude M B > − 19.12 mag and luminosity distance D L ≤ 25.4 Mpc, which is an extension of a complementary set of 140 more luminous ( M B ≤ − 19.12 mag) late-type galaxies. We find the PADFs of the two samples are, somewhat surprisingly, not strongly dissimilar; a result that may hold important implications for spiral formation theories. Our data show a distinct bimodal population manifest in the pitch angles of the Sa–Sc types and separately the Scd–Sm types, with Sa–Sc types having tighter spiral arms on average. Importantly, we uncover a distinct bifurcation of the BHMF, such that the Sa–Sc galaxies typically host so-called "supermassive" black holes ( M • ≳ 10 6 M ⊙ ), whereas Scd–Sm galaxies accordingly harbor black holes that are "less-than-supermassive" ( M • ≲ 10 6 M ⊙ ). It is amongst this latter population of galaxies where we expect fruitful bounties of elusive intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs), through which a better understanding will help form more precise benchmarks for future generations of gravitational wave detectors.
- Subjects
SPIRAL galaxies; BLACK holes; STELLAR luminosity function; GRAVITATIONAL wave detectors; DISTRIBUTION (Probability theory)
- Publication
Universe (2218-1997), 2022, Vol 8, Issue 12, p649
- ISSN
2218-1997
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3390/universe8120649