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American Astronomical Society, Astrophysical Journal, 1(741), p. 38, 2011

DOI: 10.1088/0004-637x/741/1/38

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Is there a black hole in NGC 4382?

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Red circle
Preprint: archiving forbidden
Red circle
Postprint: archiving forbidden
Green circle
Published version: archiving allowed
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

We present Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph observations of the galaxy NGC 4382 (M85) and axisymmetric models of the galaxy to determine mass-to-light ratio ( V ) and central black hole mass (M BH). We find V = 3.74 ± 0.1 M ☉/L ☉ and M BH = 1.3+5.2 – 1.2 × 107 M ☉ at an assumed distance of 17.9 Mpc, consistent with no black hole. The upper limit, M BH < 9.6 × 107 M ☉(2σ) or M BH < 1.4 × 108(3σ), is consistent with the current M-σ relation, which predicts M BH = 8.8 × 107 M ☉ at σ e = 182 km s–1, but low for the current M - L relation, which predicts M BH = 7.8 × 108 M ☉ at LV = 8.9 × 1010 L ☉, V . HST images show the nucleus to be double, suggesting the presence of a nuclear eccentric stellar disk, analogous to the Tremaine disk in M31. This conclusion is supported by the HST velocity dispersion profile. Despite the presence of this non-axisymmetric feature and evidence of a recent merger, we conclude that the reliability of our black hole mass determination is not hindered. The inferred low black hole mass may explain the lack of nuclear activity.