paper

Luminosity and stellar mass functions of disks and spheroids in the SDSS and the supermassive black hole mass function

arXiv:astro-ph/0612719 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.11923.x

Abstract

Using the Galactica code of Benson et al., we obtain quantitative measurements of spheroid-to-disk ratios for a sample of 8839 galaxies observed in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We carry out extensive tests of this code and of Gim2D, finding that they perform similarly in all respects. From the spheroid and disk luminosities, we construct luminosity and stellar mass functions for each component and estimate the relative luminosity and stellar mass densities of disks and spheroids in the local Universe. Assuming a simple one-to-one mapping between between spheroid mass and the mass of a central supermassive black hole, we provide the most accurate determination so far of the black hole mass function in the local universe. From this, we infer a cosmological mass density of black holes of rho_BH=3.77 +/- 0.97 x 10^5 h M_sun Mpc^-3. We compare our results to predictions from current hierarchical models of galaxy formation and these are found to fare well in predicting the qualitative trends observed. We find that stars in disks contribute 35-51% of the local stellar mass density.

arXiv comment26 pages. Submitted to MNRAS. Version with full resolution figures can be found at http://www.tapir.caltech.edu/~abenson/SDSS_BD.pdf

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