Intermediate-mass Black Holes in Galactic Nuclei
Abstract
We present the first homogeneous sample of intermediate-mass black hole candidates in active galactic nuclei. Starting with broad-line active nuclei from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we use the linewidth-luminosity-mass scaling relation to select a sample of 19 galaxies in the mass range MBH ~ 8 x 104 - 106 solar masses. In contrast to the local active galaxy population, the host galaxies are ~1 mag fainter than M* and thus are probably late-type systems. The active nuclei are also faint, with Mg ~ -15 to -18 mag, while the bolometric luminosities are close to the Eddington limit. The spectral properties of the sample are compared to the related class of objects known as narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies. We discuss the importance of our sample as observational analogues of primordial black holes, contributors to the integrated signal for future gravitational wave experiments, and as a valuable tool in the calibration of the M-sigma relation.
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