Measuring Black Hole Masses Using Ionized Gas Kinematics

Abstract

We describe techniques for measuring the central masses of galaxies using emission-line kinematics observed with the Hubble Space Telescope. For accurate results, it is necessary to model various instrumental effects, particularly the blurring due to the telescope PSF and the width of the spectroscopic aperture. Observations of nuclear gas disks often reveal substantial internal velocity dispersions in the gas, suggesting that the disks may be partially pressure-supported. We also describe a technique for fitting 2-dimensional spectroscopic data directly in pixel space. This method may be useful for objects such as M84 that show highly complex and asymmetric line profiles.

To appear in The Central Kpc of Starbursts and AGN: The La Palma Connection, ed. J. H. Knapen et al. (San Francisco: ASP), in press