Related papers: Calibrating Mg II-based black-hole mass estimators…
We present a sample of intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) candidates based on the detection of a broad H$\alpha$ emission line and variability, which are selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7. By performing spectral…
Using ground-based gravitational-wave detectors, we probe the mass function of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) wherein we also include BHs in the upper mass gap $\sim 60-130~M_\odot$. Employing the projected sensitivity of the…
We try to identify the sources and systematics of the uncertainty of the masses of the central black holes in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) which have been obtained by reverberation-mapping methods. We characterize the broad H$\beta$…
An empirical relation between the broad line region (BLR) size and optical continuum luminosity is often adopted to estimate the BLR size and then the black hole mass of AGNs. However, optical luminosity may not be a good indicator of…
The tight correlations between the mass of supermassive black holes ($M_{\rm BH}$) and their host-galaxy properties have been of great interest to the astrophysical community, but a clear understanding of their origin and fundamental…
[Abridged] We present an updated and improved M_bh-sigma diagram containing 64 galaxies for which M_bh measurements (not just upper limits) are available. Due to new and increased black hole masses at the high-mass end, and a better…
A new sample of 204 low-mass black holes (LMBHs) in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is presented with black hole masses in the range of (1-20) * 10^5 M_sun. The AGNs are selected from a systematic search among galaxies in the Seventh Data…
The correlation between the broad line region radius and continuum luminosity ($R-L$ relation) of active galactic nuclei (AGN) is critical for single-epoch mass estimates of supermassive black holes (SMBHs). At $z \sim 1-2$, where AGN…
We present a phenomenological forward Monte Carlo model for forecasting the population of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in dwarf galaxies observable via their optical variability. Our model accounts for expected changes in the spectral…
We study the black hole mass $-$ host galaxy stellar mass relation, $M_{\rm{BH}}-M_{\ast}$, of a sample of $z<4$ optically-variable AGNs in the COSMOS field. The parent sample of 491 COSMOS AGNs were identified by optical variability from…
Understanding the origin and evolution of supermassive black holes (SMBH) stands as one of the most important challenges in astrophysics and cosmology, with little current theoretical consensus. Improved observational constraints on the…
We present an analysis of the optical nuclear spectra from the active galactic nuclei (AGN) in a sample of giant low surface brightness (GLSB) galaxies. GLSB galaxies are extreme late type spirals that are large, isolated and poorly evolved…
Our objective is to critically assess the X-ray flux variability as a tool for measuring the black hole (BH) mass in active galactic nuclei (AGN). We aim to establish a prescription for estimating BH masses based on measurements of the…
We present the results of a reverberation mapping (RM) campaign on the black hole (BH) associated with the active galactic nucleus (AGN) in SDSS J114008.71+030711.4 (hereafter GH08). This object is selected from a sample of 19 candidate…
In large optical survey at high redshifts ($z>2$), the CIV broad emission line is the most practical alternative to estimate the mass ($M_{\text{BH}}$) of active super-massive black holes (SMBHs). However, mass determinations obtained with…
Accurately determining the black hole mass ($M_\mathrm{BH}$) in active galactic nuclei (AGN) is crucial to constraining their properties and to studying their evolution. While direct methods yield reliable measurements of $M_\mathrm{BH}$ in…
We investigate the physical nature of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) using machine learning (ML) tools. We show that the redshift, $z$, bolometric luminosity, $L_{\rm Bol}$, central mass of the supermassive black hole (SMBH), $M_{\rm BH}$,…
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 very high spatial resolution provided by Adaptive Optics assisted spectroscopic observations at 8m-class telescopes (e.g. with SINFONI at the VLT) will allow to greatly increase the number of direct black hole (BH) mass measurements…
(Abridged) The X-ray background can be used to constrain the accretion history of Supermassive Black Holes (SMBHs) in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). A knowledge of the hard X-ray bolometric correction, \kappa_{2-10keV} is a vital input into…