The Black Hole Mass In The Brightest Cluster Galaxy NGC 6086

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Date

2011-02

Authors

McConnell, Nicholas J.
Ma, Chung-Pei
Graham, James R.
Gebhardt, Karl
Lauer, Tod R.
Wright, Shelley A.
Richstone, Douglas O.

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Abstract

We present the first direct measurement of the central black hole mass, M-center dot, in NGC 6086, the Brightest Cluster Galaxy (BCG) in A2162. Our investigation demonstrates for the first time that stellar-dynamical measurements of M-center dot in BCGs are possible beyond the nearest few galaxy clusters. We observed NGC 6086 with laser guide star adaptive optics and the integral-field spectrograph (IFS) OSIRIS at the W. M. Keck Observatory and with the seeing-limited IFS GMOS-N at Gemini Observatory North. We combined the IFS data sets with existing major-axis kinematics and used axisymmetric stellar orbit models to determine M-center dot and the R-band stellar mass-to-light ratio, M-/LR. We find M-center dot = 3.6(-1.1)(+1.7) x 10(9) M-circle dot and M-/L-R = 4.6(-0.7)(+0.3) M-circle dot L-circle dot(-1) (68% confidence) from models using the most massive dark matter halo allowed within the gravitational potential of the host cluster. Models fitting only IFS data confirm M-center dot similar to 3x10(9) M circle dot and M-/L-R similar to 4M(circle dot) L-circle dot(-1), with weak dependence on the assumed dark matter halo structure. When data out to 19 kpc are included, the unrealistic omission of dark matter causes the best-fit black hole mass to decrease dramatically, to 0.6 x 10(9) M-circle dot, and the best-fit stellar mass-to-light ratio to increase to 6.7 M circle dot L-(c),R(-1) . The latter value is at further odds with stellar population studies favoring M-/L-R similar to 2M(circle dot) L-circle dot(-1) . Biases from dark matter omission could extend to dynamical models of other galaxies with stellar cores, and revised measurements of M-center dot could steepen the empirical scaling relationships between black holes and their host galaxies.

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McConnell, Nicholas J., Chung-Pei Ma, James R. Graham, Karl Gebhardt, Tod R. Lauer, Shelley A. Wright, and Douglas O. Richstone. "The Black Hole Mass in the Brightest Cluster Galaxy NGC 6086." The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 728, No. 2 (Feb., 2011): 100.