Related papers: Finding Local Low-mass Supermassive Black Holes

Deep surveys of the cosmic X-ray background are reviewed in the context of observational progress enabled by the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission-Newton. The sources found by deep surveys are described along with…

Recent studies of active galactic nuclei (AGN) found a statistical inverse linear scaling between the X-ray normalized excess variance $\sigma_{\rm rms}^2$ (variability amplitude) and the black hole mass spanning over $M_{\rm BH}=10^6-…

We will briefly discuss the importance of sensitive X-ray observations above a few tens of keV for a better understanding of the physical mechanisms associated to the Supermassive Black Hole primary emission in both radio quiet and radio…

We present an expanded sample of low-mass black holes (BHs) found in galactic nuclei. Using standard virial mass techniques to estimate BH masses, we select from the Fourth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey all broad-line active…

Normal galaxies are faint and complex X-ray sources that provide very powerful probes for fundamental astrophysical questions. Examples include: the study of populations of X-ray emitting sources; the study of the entire spectrum of…

Estimating black hole masses of blazars is still a big challenge. Because of the contamination of jets, using the previously suggested size -- continuum luminosity relation can overestimate the broad line region (BLR) size and black hole…

We estimate black hole masses in Narrow Line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies at the basis of their X-ray excess variance. We apply the standard approach appropriate for Broad Line Seyfert 1 (BLS1) galaxies. In general, we find that the obtained…

Anticipating forthcoming observations with the Chandra X-ray telescope, we describe the continuation of interstellar cooling flows deep into the cores of elliptical galaxies. Interstellar gas within about r = 50 parsecs from the massive…

A large fraction of X-ray sources in our Galaxy are low-mass X-ray binaries, containing a black hole or a neutron star accreting from a gravitationally bound low-mass ($\leq$1 M$_\odot$) companion star. These systems are among the older…

We present X-ray and optical analysis of 188 AGN identified from 497 hard X-ray (f (2.0-8.0 keV) > 2.7x10^-15 erg cm^-2 s^-1) sources in 20 Chandra fields (1.5 deg^2) forming part of the Chandra Multi-wavelength Project. These medium depth…

While large numbers of supermassive black holes have been detected at z>6, their origin is still essentially unclear. Numerical simulations have shown that the conditions for the classical direct collapse scenario are very restrictive and…

The X-ray color (hardness ratio) of optically undetected X-ray sources can be used to distinguish obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at low and intermediate redshift from viable high-redshift (i.e., z>5) AGN candidates. This will help…

We present a detailed study of the optical spectroscopic properties of 12 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with candidate low-mass black holes (BHs) selected by Kamizasa et al. through rapid X-ray variability. The high-quality, echellette…

We review briefly direct and indirect methods of measuring the masses of black holes in galactic nuclei, and then focus attention on supermassive black holes in active nuclei, with special attention to results from reverberation mapping and…

The detailed feeding and feedback mechanisms of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are not yet well known. For low-luminosity and obscured AGN, as well as late-type galaxies, determining the central black hole (BH) masses is challenging. Our goal…

The distribution of black hole masses in galaxies is constrained by photometric and kinematic studies of individual galaxies, and by the properties of the quasar population. I review our understanding of these topics, present new results of…

We have embarked in an HST program to determine the masses of black holes in spiral galaxies directly by measuring the line emission arising from an extended accretion disk. For each of the galaxies in our sample we have measured the…

We suggest that high-mass black holes; i.e., black holes of several solar masses, can be formed in binaries with low-mass main-sequence companions, provided that the hydrogen envelope of the massive star is removed in common envelope…

The relations between masses of Super-Massive Black Holes, Mbh, in galactic nuclei, maximal rotational velocities, Vm, and indicative masses, Mi, of galaxies are studied for galaxies with the available rotation curves. Mbh correlates with…

We have found compact X-ray sources in the center of 21 (54%) of 39 nearby face-on spiral and elliptical galaxies with available ROSAT HRI data. ROSAT X-ray luminosities (0.2 - 2.4 keV) of these compact X-ray sources are ~ 1e37 - 1e40 erg/s…