The Stellar Mass-Black Hole Mass Relation at z ∼ 2 down to MBH ∼ 107 M Determined by HETDEX

Yechi Zhang, Masami Ouchi, Karl Gebhardt, Chenxu Liu, Yuichi Harikane, Erin Mentuch Cooper, Dustin Davis, Daniel J. Farrow, Eric Gawiser, Gary J. Hill, Wolfram Kollatschny, Yoshiaki Ono, Donald P. Schneider, Steven L. Finkelstein, Caryl Gronwall, Shardha Jogee, Mirko Krumpe

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6 Scopus citations

Abstract

We investigate the stellar mass-black hole mass ( M * - M BH ) relation with type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) down to M BH = 10 7 M ⊙ , corresponding to a ≃ −21 absolute magnitude in rest-frame ultraviolet, at z = 2-2.5. Exploiting the deep and large-area spectroscopic survey of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX), we identify 66 type 1 AGNs with M BH ranging from 107-1010 M that are measured with single-epoch virial method using C iv emission lines detected in the HETDEX spectra. M * of the host galaxies are estimated from optical to near-infrared photometric data taken with Spitzer, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, and ground-based 4-8 m class telescopes by CIGALE spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting. We further assess the validity of SED fitting in two cases by host-nuclear decomposition performed through surface brightness profile fitting on spatially resolved host galaxies with the James Webb Space Telescope/NIRCam CEERS data. We obtain the M * - M BH relation covering the unexplored low-mass ranges of M BH ∼ 10 7 - 10 8 M ⊙ , and conduct forward modeling to fully account for the selection biases and observational uncertainties. The intrinsic M * - M BH relation at z ∼ 2 has a moderate positive offset of 0.52 ± 0.14 dex from the local relation, suggestive of more efficient black hole growth at higher redshift even in the low-mass regime of M BH ∼ 10 7 - 10 8 M ⊙ . Our M * - M BH relation is inconsistent with the M BH suppression at the low- M * regime predicted by recent hydrodynamic simulations at a 98% confidence level, suggesting that feedback in the low-mass systems may be weaker than those produced in hydrodynamic simulations.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number103
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume948
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - May 1 2023

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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