J/ApJ/717/L6 Displacement of black hole in M87 (Batcheldor+, 2010)
A displaced supermassive black hole in M87.
Batcheldor D., Robinson A., Axon D.J., Perlman E.S., Merritt D.
<Astrophys. J., 717, L6-L10 (2010)>
=2010ApJ...717L...6B 2010ApJ...717L...6B
ADC_Keywords: Active gal. nuclei ; Photometry, HST
Keywords: black hole physics - galaxies: individual (M87) - galaxies: nuclei
Abstract:
Isophotal analysis of M87, using data from the Advanced Camera for
Surveys, reveals a projected displacement of 6.8±0.8pc (∼0.1")
between the nuclear point source (presumed to be the location of the
supermassive black hole, SMBH) and the photo-center of the galaxy. The
displacement is along a position angle of 307±17° and is
consistent with the jet axis. This suggests the active SMBH in M87
does not currently reside at the galaxy center of mass, but is
displaced in the counter-jet direction. Possible explanations for the
displacement include orbital motion of an SMBH binary, gravitational
perturbations due to massive objects (e.g., globular clusters),
acceleration by an asymmetric or intrinsically one-sided jet, and
gravitational recoil resulting from the coalescence of an SMBH binary.
Description:
Our analysis uses the following archived HST/ACS data:
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Data Set Aperture Filter Exposure Times PID
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j8q0* HRC F606W 2x75s 9829
j92j* HRC F606W 4x80s, 5x48s 10133
j9ei* HRC F606W 6x80s, 3x45s 10617
j9qf* HRC F606W 2x80s, 1x45s 10910
j8l0* HRC F814W 5x100s 9705
j8q0* HRC F814W 8x50s 9829
j92j* HRC F814W 4x50s 10133
j9ei* HRC F814W 6x48s 10617
j9qf* HRC F814W 2x48s 10910
j9e0* WFC F606W 3x500s 10543
j9e0* WFC F814W 3x1440s 10543
-------------------------------------------------
Objects:
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RA (2000) DE Designation(s)
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12 30 49.42 +12 23 28.0 M87 = NAME VIRGO GALAXY
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File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
table2.dat 38 50 Radial offsets of fitted ellipse centers
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See also:
B/hst : HST Archived Exposures Catalog (STScI, 2007)
J/ApJS/197/33 : The M87 globular cluster system (Strader+, 2011)
J/ApJ/703/42 : HST photometry of M87 globular clusters (Peng+, 2009)
J/AJ/135/928 : The black hole-bulge relationship (Shen+, 2008)
J/AJ/131/866 : Hot populations in M87 globular clusters (Sohn+, 2006)
J/ApJ/613/279 : ACS Virgo Cluster Survey. III. M87 (Jordan+, 2004)
J/ApJ/559/812 : Globular cluster system in M87 (Hanes+, 2001)
J/ApJ/513/733 : Globular cluster system in M87 (Kundu+, 1999)
J/ApJ/492/62 : M87 planetary nebulae (Ciardullo+, 1998)
J/AJ/115/1801 : VRI photometry of M87 globular clusters (Harris+ 1998)
J/AJ/106/493 : Globular clusters in M87 (Lee+, 1993)
J/ApJS/73/671 : M87 globular clusters BVI photometry (Couture+, 1990)
Byte-by-byte Description of file: table2.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 5 F5.3 arcsec HRC-SMA High Resolution Channel semi-major axis
7- 11 F5.3 pc HRC-F606W High Resolution Channel F606W band offset (1)
13- 17 F5.3 pc HRC-F814W High Resolution Channel F814W band offset (1)
19- 23 F5.3 arcsec WFC-SMA Wide Field Channel semi-major axis
25- 30 F6.3 pc WFC-F606W Wide Field Channel F606W band offset (1)
32- 38 F7.3 pc WFC-F814W Wide Field Channel F814W band offset (1)
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Note (1): assumed distance of M87 is 16.1Mpc, corresponding to a scale
of 77.9pc/arcsec.
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History:
From electronic version of the journal
(End) Greg Schwarz [AAS], Emmanuelle Perret [CDS] 06-Jun-2012