Abstract The volumetric rate of tidal disruption events (TDEs) encodes information on the still-unknown demographics of central massive black holes (MBHs) in low-mass galaxies (≲109M⊙). Theoretical TDE rates from model galaxy samples can extract this information, but this requires accurately defining the nuclear stellar density structures. This region is typically dominated by nuclear star clusters (NSCs), which have been shown to increase TDE rates by orders of magnitude. Thus, we assemble the largest available sample of parsec-scale 3D density profiles that include NSC components. We deproject the point-spread-function-deconvolved surface-brightness profiles of 91 nearby galaxies of varying morphology and combine these with nuclear mass-to-light ratios estimated from measured colors or spectral synthesis to create 3D mass density profiles. We fit the inner 3D density profile to find the best-fit power-law density profile in each galaxy. We compile this information as a function of galaxy stellar mass to fit new empirical density scaling relations. These fits reveal positive correlations between galaxy stellar mass and central stellar density in both early- and late-type galaxies. We find that early-type galaxies have somewhat higher densities and shallower profiles relative to late-type galaxies at the same mass. We also use the density profiles to estimate the influence radius of each galaxy’s MBH and find that the sphere of influence was likely resolved in most cases. These new relations will be used in future works to build mock galaxy samples for dynamical TDE rate calculations, with the aim of constraining MBH demographics in low-mass galaxies.
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The 50 Mpc Galaxy Catalog (50 MGC): Consistent and Homogeneous Masses, Distances, Colors, and Morphologies
Abstract We assemble a catalog of 15424 nearby galaxies within 50 Mpc with consistent and homogenized mass, distance, and morphological type measurements. Our catalog combines galaxies from HyperLeda, the NASA-Sloan Atlas, and the Catalog of Local Volume Galaxies. Distances for the galaxies combine best-estimates for flow-corrected redshift-based distances with redshift-independent distances. We also compile magnitude and color information for 11740 galaxies. We use the galaxy colors to estimate masses by creating self-consistent color—mass-to-light ratio relations in four bands; we also provide color transformations of all colors into Sloang–iby using galaxies with overlapping color information. We compile morphology information for 13744 galaxies, and use the galaxy color information to separate early- and late-type galaxies. This catalog is widely applicable for studies of nearby galaxies and for placing these studies in the context of more distant galaxies. We present one application here: a preliminary analysis of the nuclear X-ray activity of galaxies. Out of 1506 galaxies within the sample that have available Chandra X-ray observations, we find that 291 have detected nuclear sources. Of the 291 existing Chandra detections, 249 have log(LX) > 38.3 and available stellar mass estimates. We find that the X-ray active fractions in early-type galaxies are higher than in late-type galaxies, especially for galaxy stellar masses between 109and 1010.5M⊙. We show that these differences may be due at least in part to the increased astrometric uncertainties in late-type galaxies relative to early types.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2108180
- PAR ID:
- 10537866
- Publisher / Repository:
- IOP Publishing: The Astronomical Journal
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Astronomical Journal
- Volume:
- 167
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0004-6256
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 31
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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