Weighing the Quiescent Central Black Hole in an Elliptical Galaxy with X-ray Emitting Gas

TL;DR

This study uses Chandra X-ray observations to measure the mass of the central black hole in NGC4649 by analyzing the hot gas's temperature profile, confirming the black hole's mass aligns with stellar kinematics and validating hydrostatic equilibrium assumptions.

Contribution

First direct measurement of a supermassive black hole mass using hydrostatic X-ray emitting gas analysis, confirming its accuracy against stellar kinematics in an elliptical galaxy.

Findings

Black hole mass estimated at (3.35+0.67-0.95)×10^9 Msun

Gas temperature profile peaks at 1.1 keV within 200pc

Stellar mass-to-light ratio matches stellar population models

Abstract

We present a Chandra study of the hot ISM in the giant elliptical galaxy NGC4649. In common with other group-centred ellipticals, its temperature profile rises with radius in the outer parts of the galaxy, from ~0.7keV at 2kpc to ~0.9keV by 20kpc. However, within the central ~2kpc the trend reverses and the temperature peaks at ~1.1keV within the innermost 200pc. Under the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium, we demonstrate that the central temperature spike arises due to the gravitational influence of a quiescent central super-massive black hole. We constrain the black hole mass (MBH) to $(3.35^{+0.67}_{-0.95})\times 10^9$Msun (90% confidence), in good agreement with stellar kinematics measurements. This is the first direct measurement of MBH based on studies of hydrostatic X-ray emitting gas, which are sensitive to the most massive black holes, and is a crucial validation of both mass-determination techniques. This agreement clearly demonstrates the gas must be close to hydrostatic, even in the very centre of the galaxy, which is consistent with the lack of morphological disturbances in the X-ray image. NGC4649 is now one of only a handful of galaxies for which MBH has been measured by more than one method. At larger radii, we were able to decompose the gravitating mass profile into stellar and dark matter (DM) components. Unless one accounts for the DM, a standard Virial analysis of the stars dramatically over-estimates the stellar mass of the galaxy. We find the measured J-band stellar mass-to-light ratio, 1.37+/-0.10 Msun/Lsun, is in good agreement with simple stellar population model calculations for this object.