The Discovery of an Active Galactic Nucleus in the Late-type Galaxy NGC 3621: Spitzer Spectroscopic Observations

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of an active galactic nucleus in NGC 3621 using Spitzer spectroscopy, revealing a low-mass black hole in a galaxy with minimal bulge, expanding understanding of black hole formation.

Contribution

First detection of an AGN in NGC 3621 via mid-infrared spectroscopy, indicating black hole presence in a galaxy with little or no bulge.

Findings

Detected [NeV] emission indicating an AGN

Estimated black hole mass lower limit ~4,000 solar masses

Supports black hole growth in bulgeless galaxies

Abstract

We report the discovery of an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) in the nearby SAd galaxy NGC 3621 using Spitzer high spectral resolution observations. These observations reveal the presence of [NeV] 14 um and 24 um emission which is centrally concentrated and peaks at the position of the near-infrared nucleus. Using the [NeV] line luminosity, we estimate that the nuclear bolometric luminosity of the AGN is ~ 5 X 10^41 ergs s^-1, which corresponds based on the Eddington limit to a lower mass limit of the black hole of ~ 4 X 10^3 Msun. Using an order of magnitude estimate for the bulge mass based on the Hubble type of the galaxy, we find that this lower mass limit does not put a strain on the well-known relationship between the black hole mass and the host galaxy's stellar velocity dispersion established in predominantly early-type galaxies. Mutli-wavelength follow-up observations of NGC 3621 are required to obtain more precise estimates of the bulge mass, black hole mass, accretion rate, and nuclear bolometric luminosity. The discovery reported here adds to the growing evidence that a black hole can form and grow in a galaxy with no or minimal bulge.