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Published 2004 | Published
Book Section - Chapter Open

Intermediate-mass black holes in galactic nuclei

Abstract

We present the first homogeneous sample of ntermediate-mass black hole candidates in active galactic nuclei. Starting with broad-line active nuclei from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we use the linewidth-luminosity-mass scaling relation to select a sample of 19 galaxies in the mass range M_(BH) ≈ 8 × 10^4 – 10^6M_⊙. In contrast to the local active galaxy population, the host galaxies are ~ 1 mag fainter than M∗ and thus are probably late-type systems. The active nuclei are also faint, with M_g ≈ −15 to −18 mag, while the bolometric luminosities are close to the Eddington limit. The spectral properties of the sample are compared to the related class of objects known as narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies. We discuss the importance of our sample as observational analogues of primordial black holes, contributors to the integrated signal for future gravitational wave experiments, and as a valuable tool in the calibration of the M_(BH)−σ_* relation.

Additional Information

© 2004 International Astronomical Union. J. E. G. acknowledges a AAS international travel grant. We are grateful to Lei Hao for making available her PCA software, and to the entire SDSS collaboration for providing the extraordinary database and processing tools that made this work possible.

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