Correlation of Black Hole and Bulge Masses: Driven by Energy but Correlated with Momentum

Abstract

We use a recent sample of 49 galaxies to show that there is a proportionality relation between the black hole mass M_BH and the quantity μ=M_G*σ/c, where M_G is mass of the spheroidal stellar component and σis the stellar velocity dispersion. μis called the momentum parameter and the ratio is M_BH/μ~3.3. This result is applied to the penetrating-jet feedback model which argues that the correlation that holds is with a momentum-like parameter, although this feedback mechanism is based on energy balance.

Accepted to MNRAS