The Megamaser Cosmology Project.IX. Black hole masses for three maser galaxies

Abstract

As part of the Megamaser Cosmology Project (MCP), we present VLBI maps of nuclear water masers toward five galaxies. The masers originate in sub-parsec circumnuclear disks. For three of the galaxies, we fit Keplerian rotation curves to estimate their supermassive black hole (SMBH) masses, and determine (2.9 $\pm$ 0.3) $\times 10^6{M}_{\odot }$ for J0437+2456, (1.7 $\pm$ 0.1) $\times 10^7{M}_{\odot }$ for ESO 558$-$G009, and (1.1 $\pm$ 0.2) $\times 10^7{M}_{\odot }$ for NGC 5495. In the other two galaxies, Mrk 1029 and NGC 1320, the geometry and dynamics are more complicated and preclude robust black hole mass estimates. Including our new results, we compiled a list of 15 VLBI-confirmed disk maser galaxies with robust SMBH mass measurements. With this sample, we confirm the empirical relation of $R_{out}\propto 0.3M_{SMBH}$ reported in Wardle & Yusef-Zadeh (2012). We also find a tentative correlation between maser disk outer radii and WISE luminosity. We find no correlations of maser disk size with X-ray 2-10 keV luminosity or [O III] luminosity.

Accepted for publication in ApJ

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