The Mass Distribution of Black Holes in BL Lacertae Objects

Abstract

In this {\it Letter}, we make an attempt to estimate the masses of black holes and their distributions in BL Lac objects. We find there is a bimodal population of black hole masses in BL Lacs: the first has a lower-mass peak centred at $\sim 7.0 \times 10^6\sunm$ composed of high frequency-peaked BL Lacs (HBLs) and the second is a higher-mass ($>10^9\sunm$) population composed of low frequency-peaked BL Lacs (LBLs). The low mass family of black holes in HBLs does not satisfy the Magorrian et al. relation whereas the high mass family in LBLs does this relation and is in agreement with Laor's limit. The origination of the bimodal distribution of black hole mass remains open.