Ultramassive black holes in the most massive galaxies: $M_{\rm BH}-\sigma$ versus $M_{\rm BH}-R_{\rm b}$

TL;DR

This study explores the relationships between black hole mass and galaxy core properties, revealing that $M_{\rm BH}$ correlates strongly with core size $R_{\rm b}$ and that ultramassive black holes are linked more closely to core size than velocity dispersion.

Contribution

It demonstrates a tight correlation between black hole mass and core size in massive galaxies, highlighting the significance of core properties over velocity dispersion for ultramassive black holes.

Findings

$M_{\rm BH}$ correlates with $R_{\rm b}$ as $M_{\rm BH} \propto R_{\rm b}^{1.20}$

Large-core galaxies host ultramassive black holes with $M_{\rm BH} \ge 10^{10} M_{\odot}$

The $M_{\rm BH}-R_{\rm b}$ relation has less scatter than the $M_{\rm BH}-\sigma$ relation.

Abstract

[Abridged] We investigate the nature of the relations between black hole (BH) mass ($M_{\rm BH}$) and the central velocity dispersion ($\sigma$) and, for core-S\'ersic galaxies, the size of the depleted core ($R_{\rm b}$). Our sample of 144 galaxies with dynamically determined $M_{\rm BH}$ encompasses 24 core-S\'ersic galaxies, thought to be products of gas-poor mergers, and reliably identified based on high-resolution HST imaging. For core-S\'ersic galaxies -- i.e., combining normal-core ($R_{\rm b} < 0.5 $ kpc) and large-core galaxies ($R_{\rm b} \gtrsim 0.5$ kpc), we find that $M_{\rm BH}$ correlates remarkably well with $R_{\rm b}$ such that $M_{\rm BH} \propto R_{\rm b}^{1.20 \pm 0.14}$ (rms scatter in log $M_{\rm BH}$ of $\Delta_{\rm rms} \sim 0.29$ dex), confirming previous works on the same galaxies except three new ones. Separating the sample into S\'ersic, normal-core and large-core galaxies, we find that S\'ersic and normal-core galaxies jointly define a single log-linear $M_{\rm BH}-\sigma$ relation $M_{\rm BH} \propto \sigma^{ 4.88 \pm 0.29}$ with $\Delta_{\rm rms} \sim 0.47$ dex, however, at the high-mass end large-core galaxies (four with measured $M_{\rm BH}$) are offset upward from this relation by ($2.5-4) \times \sigma_{\rm s}$, explaining the previously reported steepening of the $M_{\rm BH}-\sigma$ relation for massive galaxies. Large-core spheroids have magnitudes $M_{V} \le -23.50$ mag, half-light radii Re $>$ 10 kpc and are extremely massive $M_{*} \ge 10^{12}M_{\odot}$. Furthermore, these spheroids tend to host ultramassive BHs ($M_{\rm BH} \ge 10^{10}M_{\odot}$) tightly connected with their $R_{\rm b}$ rather than $\sigma$. The less popular $M_{\rm BH}-R_{\rm b}$ relation exhibits $\sim$ 62% less scatter in log $M_{\rm BH}$ than the $M_{\rm BH}- \sigma$ relations.