Black hole masses from reverberation measurements

Abstract

We have reanalyzed in a consistent way existing reverberation data for 35 AGNs for the purpose of refining the black hole masses derived from these data. We find that the precision (or random component of the error) of reverberation-based black hole mass measurements is typically around 30%, comparable to the precision attained in measurement of black hole masses in quiescent galaxies by gas or stellar dynamical methods. As discussed in this volume by Onken et al., we have established an absolute calibration for AGN reverberation-based masses by assuming that AGNs and quiescent galaxies follow an identical relationship between black hole mass and host-galaxy bulge velocity dispersion. The scatter around this relationship implies that the typical systematic uncertainties in reverberation-based black hole masses are smaller than a factor of three. We present a preliminary version of a mass-luminosity relationship that is much better defined than any previous attempt. Scatter about the mass-luminosity relationship for these AGNs appears to be real and could be correlated with either Eddington ratio or source inclination.