Supermassive black holes, pseudobulges, and the narrow-line seyfert 1 galaxies

Abstract

We present Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) observations of 10 galaxies that host narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) nuclei, believed to contain relatively smaller mass black holes accreting at high Eddington ratios. We deconvolve each ACS image into a nuclear point source (AGN), a bulge, and a disk, and fitted the bulge with a Sérsic profile and the disk with an exponential profile. We find that at least five galaxies can be classified as having pseudobulges. All 10 galaxies lie below the M BH-L bulge relation, confirming earlier results. Their locus is similar to that occupied by pseudobulges. This leads us to conclude that the growth of BHs in NLS1s is governed by secular processes rather than merger driven. Active galaxies in pseudobulges point to an alternative track of black hole-galaxy co-evolution. Because of the intrinsic scatter in black hole mass-bulge properties scaling relations caused by a combination of factors such as the galaxy morphology, orientation, and redshift evolution, application of scaling relations to determine BH masses may not be as straightforward as has been hoped. © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.