Cross-checking SMBH mass estimates in NGC 6958-I. Stellar dynamics from adaptive optics-assisted MUSE observations

Sabine Thater; Davor Krajnović; Peter M. Weilbacher; Dieu D. Nguyen; Martin Bureau; Michele Cappellari; Timothy A. Davis; Satoru Iguchi; Richard McDermid; Kyoko Onishi; Marc Sarzi; Glenn van de Ven

doi:10.1093/mnras/stab3210

Cross-checking SMBH mass estimates in NGC 6958-I. Stellar dynamics from adaptive optics-assisted MUSE observations

Sabine Thater^*, Davor Krajnović, Peter M. Weilbacher, Dieu D. Nguyen, Martin Bureau, Michele Cappellari, Timothy A. Davis, Satoru Iguchi, Richard McDermid, Kyoko Onishi, Marc Sarzi, Glenn van de Ven

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Supermassive black hole masses (M_BH) can dynamically be estimated with various methods and using different kinematic tracers. Different methods have only been cross-checked for a small number of galaxies and often show discrepancies. To understand these discrepancies, detailed cross-comparisons of additional galaxies are needed. We present the first part of our cross-comparison between stellar-and gas-based M_BH estimates in the nearby fast-rotating early-Type galaxy NGC 6958. The measurements presented here are based on ground-layer adaptive optics-Assisted Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) science verification data at around 0.″6 spatial resolution. The spatial resolution is a key ingredient for the measurement and we provide a Gaussian parametrization of the adaptive optics-Assisted point spread function for various wavelengths. From the MUSE data, we extracted the stellar kinematics and constructed dynamical models. Using an axisymmetric Schwarzschild technique, we measured an M_BH of (3.6^+2.7_−2.4) × 10⁸ M_⊙ at 3σ significance taking kinematical and dynamical systematics (e.g. radially varying mass-To-light ratio) into account. We also added a dark halo, but our data do not allow us to constrain the dark matter fraction. Adding dark matter with an abundance matching prior results in a 25 per cent more massive black hole. Jeans anisotropic models return M_BH of (4.6^+2.5_-2.7 ) × 10⁸ and (8.6^+0.8_-0.8 ) × 10⁸ M⊙ at 3σ confidence for spherical and cylindrical alignments of the velocity ellipsoid, respectively. In a follow-up study, we will compare the stellar-based M_BH with those from cold and warm gas tracers, which will provide additional constraints for the M_BH for NGC 6958, and insights into assumptions that lead to potential systematic uncertainty.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	5416-5436
Number of pages	21
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume	509
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab3210
Publication status	Published - 1 Feb 2022

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

galaxies: individual: NGC 6958
galaxies: kinematics and dynamics
galaxies: nuclei

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10.1093/mnras/stab3210Licence: CC BY

Publisher version (open access)Final published version, 3.86 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

Thater, S., Krajnović, D., Weilbacher, P. M., Nguyen, D. D., Bureau, M., Cappellari, M., Davis, T. A., Iguchi, S., McDermid, R., Onishi, K., Sarzi, M., & van de Ven, G. (2022). Cross-checking SMBH mass estimates in NGC 6958-I. Stellar dynamics from adaptive optics-assisted MUSE observations. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 509(4), 5416-5436. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab3210

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title = "Cross-checking SMBH mass estimates in NGC 6958-I. Stellar dynamics from adaptive optics-assisted MUSE observations",

abstract = "Supermassive black hole masses (MBH) can dynamically be estimated with various methods and using different kinematic tracers. Different methods have only been cross-checked for a small number of galaxies and often show discrepancies. To understand these discrepancies, detailed cross-comparisons of additional galaxies are needed. We present the first part of our cross-comparison between stellar-and gas-based MBH estimates in the nearby fast-rotating early-Type galaxy NGC 6958. The measurements presented here are based on ground-layer adaptive optics-Assisted Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) science verification data at around 0.″6 spatial resolution. The spatial resolution is a key ingredient for the measurement and we provide a Gaussian parametrization of the adaptive optics-Assisted point spread function for various wavelengths. From the MUSE data, we extracted the stellar kinematics and constructed dynamical models. Using an axisymmetric Schwarzschild technique, we measured an MBH of (3.6+2.7−2.4) × 108 M⊙ at 3σ significance taking kinematical and dynamical systematics (e.g. radially varying mass-To-light ratio) into account. We also added a dark halo, but our data do not allow us to constrain the dark matter fraction. Adding dark matter with an abundance matching prior results in a 25 per cent more massive black hole. Jeans anisotropic models return MBH of (4.6+2.5-2.7 ) × 108 and (8.6+0.8-0.8 ) × 108 M⊙ at 3σ confidence for spherical and cylindrical alignments of the velocity ellipsoid, respectively. In a follow-up study, we will compare the stellar-based MBH with those from cold and warm gas tracers, which will provide additional constraints for the MBH for NGC 6958, and insights into assumptions that lead to potential systematic uncertainty.",

keywords = "galaxies: individual: NGC 6958, galaxies: kinematics and dynamics, galaxies: nuclei",

author = "Sabine Thater and Davor Krajnovi{\'c} and Weilbacher, {Peter M.} and Nguyen, {Dieu D.} and Martin Bureau and Michele Cappellari and Davis, {Timothy A.} and Satoru Iguchi and Richard McDermid and Kyoko Onishi and Marc Sarzi and {van de Ven}, Glenn",

note = "Copyright {\textcopyright} 2021 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.",

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doi = "10.1093/mnras/stab3210",

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Thater, S, Krajnović, D, Weilbacher, PM, Nguyen, DD, Bureau, M, Cappellari, M, Davis, TA, Iguchi, S, McDermid, R, Onishi, K, Sarzi, M & van de Ven, G 2022, 'Cross-checking SMBH mass estimates in NGC 6958-I. Stellar dynamics from adaptive optics-assisted MUSE observations', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 509, no. 4, pp. 5416-5436. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab3210

TY - JOUR

T1 - Cross-checking SMBH mass estimates in NGC 6958-I. Stellar dynamics from adaptive optics-assisted MUSE observations

AU - Thater, Sabine

AU - Krajnović, Davor

AU - Weilbacher, Peter M.

AU - Nguyen, Dieu D.

AU - Bureau, Martin

AU - Cappellari, Michele

AU - Davis, Timothy A.

AU - Iguchi, Satoru

AU - McDermid, Richard

AU - Onishi, Kyoko

AU - Sarzi, Marc

AU - van de Ven, Glenn

N1 - Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

PY - 2022/2/1

Y1 - 2022/2/1

N2 - Supermassive black hole masses (MBH) can dynamically be estimated with various methods and using different kinematic tracers. Different methods have only been cross-checked for a small number of galaxies and often show discrepancies. To understand these discrepancies, detailed cross-comparisons of additional galaxies are needed. We present the first part of our cross-comparison between stellar-and gas-based MBH estimates in the nearby fast-rotating early-Type galaxy NGC 6958. The measurements presented here are based on ground-layer adaptive optics-Assisted Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) science verification data at around 0.″6 spatial resolution. The spatial resolution is a key ingredient for the measurement and we provide a Gaussian parametrization of the adaptive optics-Assisted point spread function for various wavelengths. From the MUSE data, we extracted the stellar kinematics and constructed dynamical models. Using an axisymmetric Schwarzschild technique, we measured an MBH of (3.6+2.7−2.4) × 108 M⊙ at 3σ significance taking kinematical and dynamical systematics (e.g. radially varying mass-To-light ratio) into account. We also added a dark halo, but our data do not allow us to constrain the dark matter fraction. Adding dark matter with an abundance matching prior results in a 25 per cent more massive black hole. Jeans anisotropic models return MBH of (4.6+2.5-2.7 ) × 108 and (8.6+0.8-0.8 ) × 108 M⊙ at 3σ confidence for spherical and cylindrical alignments of the velocity ellipsoid, respectively. In a follow-up study, we will compare the stellar-based MBH with those from cold and warm gas tracers, which will provide additional constraints for the MBH for NGC 6958, and insights into assumptions that lead to potential systematic uncertainty.

AB - Supermassive black hole masses (MBH) can dynamically be estimated with various methods and using different kinematic tracers. Different methods have only been cross-checked for a small number of galaxies and often show discrepancies. To understand these discrepancies, detailed cross-comparisons of additional galaxies are needed. We present the first part of our cross-comparison between stellar-and gas-based MBH estimates in the nearby fast-rotating early-Type galaxy NGC 6958. The measurements presented here are based on ground-layer adaptive optics-Assisted Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) science verification data at around 0.″6 spatial resolution. The spatial resolution is a key ingredient for the measurement and we provide a Gaussian parametrization of the adaptive optics-Assisted point spread function for various wavelengths. From the MUSE data, we extracted the stellar kinematics and constructed dynamical models. Using an axisymmetric Schwarzschild technique, we measured an MBH of (3.6+2.7−2.4) × 108 M⊙ at 3σ significance taking kinematical and dynamical systematics (e.g. radially varying mass-To-light ratio) into account. We also added a dark halo, but our data do not allow us to constrain the dark matter fraction. Adding dark matter with an abundance matching prior results in a 25 per cent more massive black hole. Jeans anisotropic models return MBH of (4.6+2.5-2.7 ) × 108 and (8.6+0.8-0.8 ) × 108 M⊙ at 3σ confidence for spherical and cylindrical alignments of the velocity ellipsoid, respectively. In a follow-up study, we will compare the stellar-based MBH with those from cold and warm gas tracers, which will provide additional constraints for the MBH for NGC 6958, and insights into assumptions that lead to potential systematic uncertainty.

KW - galaxies: individual: NGC 6958

KW - galaxies: kinematics and dynamics

KW - galaxies: nuclei

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ER -

Cross-checking SMBH mass estimates in NGC 6958-I. Stellar dynamics from adaptive optics-assisted MUSE observations

Abstract

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Keywords

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