The quasar MBH-Mhost relation through cosmic time - I. Data set and black hole masses

Abstract

We study the MBH-Mhost relation as a function of cosmic time in a sample of 96 quasars from z = 3 to the present epoch. In this paper, we describe the sample, the data sources and the new spectroscopic observations. We then illustrate how we derive MBH from single-epoch spectra, pointing out the uncertainties in the procedure. In a companion paper, we address the dependence of the ratio between the black hole mass and the host-galaxy luminosity and mass on cosmic time. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 RAS.