The Host Galaxy of 3C 279

TL;DR

This paper reports the first detection of the host galaxy of the blazar 3C 279 during a low optical state, estimating its properties and central black hole mass.

Contribution

First detection and characterization of 3C 279's host galaxy during a low optical state, including luminosity and black hole mass estimation.

Findings

Host galaxy I-band magnitude: 18.4

Effective radius: 2.7 arcsec

Black hole mass estimate: log(M_bh/M_Sun) = 8.9

Abstract

We have obtained a deep i-band image of the blazar 3C 279 while the target was in a low optical state. Due to the faintness of the optical nucleus we have made the first detection of the host galaxy. The host galaxy has an apparent I-band magnitude of 18.4 +- 0.3 and an effective radius of (2.7 +- 1.1) arcsec. The luminosity of the host galaxy M_R = -23.8 is consistent with the luminosities of other radio-loud quasar host galaxies. Using the empirical correlation between bulge luminosity and central black hole mass M_bh we estimate log(M_bh/M_Sun) = 8.9 +- 0.5, broadly consistent with values obtained by photoionization methods.