The local black-hole mass function from 2dFGRS radio galaxies

Abstract

Radio emission from early-type (E and S0) galaxies usually signals the presence of a central supermassive black hole. If radio luminosity and black-hole mass are correlated, then we can use the large sample of radio galaxies observed in the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS) to estimate the local (z<0.1) black-hole mass function for early-type galaxies. Integrating over this mass function yields a local black-hole mass density of Rho_BH = 1.8 (+0.4, -0.6) x 10^5 solar mases/Mpc^3 (for Ho = 50 km/s/Mpc), in good agreement both with the local value derived from galaxy velocity dispersions and with the high-redshift value derived from QSOs. This supports earlier suggestions that local radio galaxies are the direct descendants of most or all of the high-redshift QSOs.