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Paper: SMBH Mass Function from Velocity Dispersion and Luminosity
Volume: 380, At the Edge of the Universe: Latest Results from the Deepest Astronomical Surveys
Page: 565
Authors: Tundo, E.; Bernardi, M.; Sheth, R.K.; Hyde, J.B.; Pizzella, A.
Abstract: Black hole masses are tightly correlated with the stellar velocity dispersion of host galaxies, and slightly less-well correlated with the bulge luminosities. There is still debate on which of these predictors can better reproduce the local black hole mass function when coupled with an appropriate distribution function: the M-σ relation predicts fewer massive black holes than does the M-L relation. This is because the L-σ in black hole samples currently available is inconsistent with that in the samples from which the distributions of L or σ are based. This suggests that current black hole samples are biased towards objects with abnormally large σ for their luminosities. Assuming that the bias is a selection rather than physical effect, then the M-σ and M-L rela-tions currently in the literature are also biased from their intrinsic values. Our analysis suggests that the bias in the M-σ relation is likely to be small, whereas the M-L relation is biased towards predicting more massive black holes for a given luminosity. If this is the case, the velocity dispersion-based estimate of the intrinsic local supermassive black hole mass function is more reliable.
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