Calibrating CIV-based black hole mass estimators

TL;DR

This paper develops improved single-epoch black hole mass estimators based on the CIV emission line, calibrated with reverberation-mapped AGNs, revealing systematic differences from previous methods and impacting high-redshift QSO mass estimates.

Contribution

It introduces new CIV-based mass estimators calibrated with reverberation mapping data, accounting for systematic differences from prior estimators.

Findings

New mass estimators with specific scaling relationships.

Significant systematic differences from previous estimators.

High-redshift QSO masses decrease by ~0.25 dex using new calibrations.

Abstract

We present the single-epoch black hole mass estimators based on the CIV (1549 A) broad emission line, using the updated sample of the reverberation-mapped AGNs and high-quality UV spectra. By performing multi-component spectral fitting analysis, we measure the CIV line widths (FWHM_CIV) and line dispersion (sigma_CIV) and the continuum luminosity at 1350 A (L_1350) to calibrate the CIV-based mass estimators. By comparing with the Hbeta reverberation-based masses, we provide new mass estimators with the best-fit relationships, i.e., M_BH \propto L_1350 ^ (0.50+-0.07) sigma_CIV ^2 and M_BH \propto L_1350 ^ (0.52+-0.09) FWHM_CIV ^ (0.56+-0.48). The new CIV-based mass estimators show significant mass-dependent systematic difference compared to the estimators commonly used in the literature. Using the published Sloan Digital Sky Survey QSO catalog, we show that the black hole mass of high-redshift QSOs decreases on average by ~0.25 dex if our recipe is adopted.