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1. Velocity-resolved Reverberation Mapping of NGC 3227

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad08b8  

   Bentz, Misty C.; Markham, Madison; Rosborough, Sara; Onken, Christopher A.; Street, Rachel; Valluri, Monica; Treu, Tommaso (December 2023, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract We describe the results of a new reverberation mapping program focused on the nearby Seyfert galaxy NGC 3227. Photometric and spectroscopic monitoring was carried out from 2022 December to 2023 June with the Las Cumbres Observatory network of telescopes. We detected time delays in several optical broad emission lines, with Hβhaving the longest delay at ${\tau }_{\mathrm{cent}}={4.0}_{-0.9}^{+0.9}$days and Heiihaving the shortest delay with ${\tau }_{\mathrm{cent}}={0.9}_{-0.8}^{+1.1}$days. We also detect velocity-resolved behavior of the Hβemission line, with different line-of-sight velocities corresponding to different observed time delays. Combining the integrated Hβtime delay with the width of the variable component of the emission line and a standard scale factor suggests a black hole mass of $M_{\mathrm{BH}}={1.1}_{-0.3}^{+0.2}\times {10}^7$M_⊙. Modeling of the full velocity-resolved response of the Hβemission line with the phenomenological codeCARAMELfinds a similar mass of $M_{\mathrm{BH}}={1.2}_{-0.7}^{+1.5}\times {10}^7$M_⊙and suggests that the Hβ-emitting broad-line region (BLR) may be represented by a biconical or flared disk structure that we are viewing at an inclination angle ofθ_i≈ 33° and with gas motions that are dominated by rotation. The new photoionization-based BLR modeling toolBELMACfinds general agreement with the observations when assuming the best-fitCARAMELresults; however,BELMACprefers a thick-disk geometry and kinematics that are equally composed of rotation and inflow. Both codes infer a radially extended and flattened BLR that is not outflowing. 

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2. The MASSIVE Survey. XVII. A Triaxial Orbit-based Determination of the Black Hole Mass and Intrinsic Shape of Elliptical Galaxy NGC 2693

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac58fd  

   Pilawa, Jacob D.; Liepold, Emily R.; Delgado Andrade, Silvana C.; Walsh, Jonelle L.; Ma, Chung-Pei; Quenneville, Matthew E.; Greene, Jenny E.; Blakeslee, John P. (April 2022, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract We present a stellar dynamical mass measurement of a newly detected supermassive black hole (SMBH) at the center of the fast-rotating, massive elliptical galaxy NGC 2693 as part of the MASSIVE survey. We combine high signal-to-noise ratio integral field spectroscopy (IFS) from the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph with wide-field data from the Mitchell Spectrograph at McDonald Observatory to extract and model stellar kinematics of NGC 2693 from the central ∼150 pc out to ∼2.5 effective radii. Observations from Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 are used to determine the stellar light distribution. We perform fully triaxial Schwarzschild orbit modeling using the latest TriOS code and a Bayesian search in 6D galaxy model parameter space to determine NGC 2693's SMBH mass (M_BH), stellar mass-to-light ratio, dark matter content, and intrinsic shape. We find $M_{\mathrm{BH}}=\left(1.7\pm 0.4\right)\times {10}^9{M}_{\odot }$and a triaxial intrinsic shape with axis ratiosp=b/a= 0.902 ± 0.009 and $q=c/a={0.721}_{-0.010}^{+0.011}$, triaxiality parameterT= 0.39 ± 0.04. In comparison, the best-fit orbit model in the axisymmetric limit and (cylindrical) Jeans anisotropic model of NGC 2693 prefer $M_{\mathrm{BH}}=\left(2.4\pm 0.6\right)\times {10}^9{M}_{\odot }$and $M_{\mathrm{BH}}=\left(2.9\pm 0.3\right)\times {10}^9{M}_{\odot }$, respectively. Neither model can account for the non-axisymmetric stellar velocity features present in the IFS data. 

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3. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project: The Black Hole Mass–Stellar Mass Relations at 0.2 ≲ z ≲ 0.8

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acddda  

   Li, Jennifer_I-Hsiu; Shen, Yue; Ho, Luis_C; Brandt, W_N; Grier, Catherine_J; Hall, Patrick_B; Homayouni, Y.; Koekemoer, Anton_M; Schneider, Donald_P; Trump, Jonathan_R (September 2023, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract We measure the correlation between black hole massM_BHand host stellar massM_*for a sample of 38 broad-line quasars at 0.2 ≲z≲ 0.8 (median redshiftz_med= 0.5). The black hole masses are derived from a dedicated reverberation mapping program for distant quasars, and the stellar masses are derived from two-band optical+IR Hubble Space Telescope imaging. Most of these quasars are well centered within ≲1 kpc from the host galaxy centroid, with only a few cases in merging/disturbed systems showing larger spatial offsets. Our sample spans two orders of magnitude in stellar mass (∼10⁹–10¹¹M_⊙) and black hole mass (∼10⁷–10⁹M_⊙) and reveals a significant correlation between the two quantities. We find a best-fit intrinsic (i.e., selection effects corrected)M_BH–M_*,hostrelation of $\log \left(M_{\mathrm{BH}}/M_{\odot }\right)={7.01}_{-0.33}^{+0.23}+{1.74}_{-0.64}^{+0.64}\log \left(M_{*,\mathrm{host}}/{10}^{10}{M}_{\odot }\right)$, with an intrinsic scatter of ${0.47}_{-0.17}^{+0.24}$dex. Decomposing our quasar hosts into bulges and disks, there is a similarM_BH–M_*,bulgerelation with slightly larger scatter, likely caused by systematic uncertainties in the bulge–disk decomposition. TheM_BH–M_*,hostrelation atz_med= 0.5 is similar to that in local quiescent galaxies, with negligible evolution over the redshift range probed by our sample. With direct black hole masses from reverberation mapping and the large dynamical range of the sample, selection biases do not appear to affect our conclusions significantly. Our results, along with other samples in the literature, suggest that the locally measured black hole mass–host stellar mass relation is already in place atz∼ 1. 

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4. Accretion Disk Size and Updated Time-delay Measurements in the Gravitationally Lensed Quasar SDSS J165043.44+425149.3

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad3069  

   Rivera, A. B.; Morgan, C. W.; Florence, S. M.; Kniezewski, K.; Millon, M.; Courbin, F.; Dahm, S. E.; Vrba, F. J.; Tilleman, T. M.; Cornachione, M. A.; et al (March 2024, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract We analyze variability in 15-season optical lightcurves from the doubly imaged lensed quasar SDSS J165043.44+425149.3 (SDSS1650), comprising five seasons of monitoring data from the Maidanak Observatory (277 nights in total, including the two seasons of data previously presented in Vuissoz et al.), five seasons of overlapping data from the Mercator telescope (269 nights), and 12 seasons of monitoring data from the US Naval Observatory, Flagstaff Station at lower cadence (80 nights). We update the 2007 time-delay measurement for SDSS1650 with these new data, finding a time delay of $\mathrm{\Delta }{t}_{\mathrm{AB}}=-{55.1}_{-3.7}^{+4.0}$days, with image A leading image B. We analyze the microlensing variability in these lightcurves using a Bayesian Monte Carlo technique to yield measurements of the size of the accretion disk atλ_rest= 2420 Å, finding a half-light radius of log(r_1/2/cm) = ${16.19}_{-0.58}^{+0.38}$assuming a 60° inclination angle. This result is unchanged if we model 30% flux contamination from the broad-line region. We use the width of the Mgiiline in the existing Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectra to estimate the mass of this system’s supermassive black hole, findingM_BH= 2.47 × 10⁹M_⊙. We confirm that the accretion disk size in this system, whose black hole mass is on the very high end of theM_BHscale, is fully consistent with the existing quasar accretion disk size–black hole mass relation. 

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5. What Does the Geometry of the Hβ BLR Depend On?

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/accc84  

   Villafaña, Lizvette; Williams, Peter R.; Treu, Tommaso; Brewer, Brendon J.; Barth, Aaron J.; U, Vivian; Bennert, Vardha N.; Guo, Hengxiao; Bentz, Misty C.; Canalizo, Gabriela; et al (May 2023, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract We combine our dynamical modeling black-hole mass measurements from the Lick AGN Monitoring Project 2016 sample with measured cross-correlation time lags and line widths to recover individual scale factors,f, used in traditional reverberation-mapping analyses. We extend our sample by including prior results from Code for AGN Reverberation and Modeling of Emission Lines (caramel) studies that have utilized our methods. Aiming to improve the precision of black-hole mass estimates, as well as uncover any regularities in the behavior of the broad-line region (BLR), we search for correlations betweenfand other AGN/BLR parameters. We find (i) evidence for a correlation between the virial coefficient ${\log }_{10}\left(f_{\mathrm{mean},\sigma }\right)$and black-hole mass, (ii) marginal evidence for a similar correlation between ${\log }_{10}\left(f_{\mathrm{rms},\sigma }\right)$and black-hole mass, (iii) marginal evidence for an anticorrelation of BLR disk thickness with ${\log }_{10}\left(f_{\mathrm{mean},\mathrm{FWHM}}\right)$and ${\log }_{10}\left(f_{\mathrm{rms},\mathrm{FWHM}}\right)$, and (iv) marginal evidence for an anticorrelation of inclination angle with ${\log }_{10}\left(f_{\mathrm{mean},\mathrm{FWHM}}\right)$, ${\log }_{10}\left(f_{\mathrm{rms},\sigma }\right)$, and ${\log }_{10}\left(f_{\mathrm{mean},\sigma }\right)$. Last, we find marginal evidence for a correlation between line-profile shape, when using the root-mean-square spectrum, ${\log }_{10}{\left(\mathrm{FWHM}/\sigma \right)}_{\mathrm{rms}}$, and the virial coefficient, ${\log }_{10}\left(f_{\mathrm{rms},\sigma }\right)$, and investigate how BLR properties might be related to line-profile shape usingcaramelmodels. 

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