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The Arkansas Galaxy Evolution Survey: Supermassive Black Holes in the Universe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2010

M. S. Seigar
Affiliation:
Dept. Physics & Astronomy, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
D. Kennefick
Affiliation:
Dept. Physics, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
J. Kennefick
Affiliation:
Dept. Physics, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
C. H. S. Lacy
Affiliation:
Dept. Physics, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
J. C. Berrier
Affiliation:
Dept. Physics, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
P. Treuthardt
Affiliation:
Dept. Physics & Astronomy, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
I. A. Al-Baidhany
Affiliation:
Dept. Physics & Astronomy, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
R. S. Barrows
Affiliation:
Dept. Physics, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
B. Davis
Affiliation:
Dept. Physics, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
J. A. Hughes
Affiliation:
Dept. Physics, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
A. Schilling
Affiliation:
Dept. Physics, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
D. W. Shields
Affiliation:
Dept. Physics, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
A. D. Sierra
Affiliation:
Dept. Physics & Astronomy, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
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Work done to date on the SMBH mass function has brought to light some interesting puzzles, the best known of which is cosmic downsizing. The solution to this problem is based upon the methodology by which we determine SMBH masses, which comes mainly from studies of active galaxies. The most massive SMBHs cease to be active at earlier epochs than their less massive counterparts, thus leading to an apparent decrease in the SMBH mass function with time. The larger SMBHs should still be present in the local Universe, but they lie in quiescent galaxies. This lack of certainty reflects the biggest gap in the observational record – the mass of SMBHs in quiescent galaxies.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2010

References

Seigar, M. S., Kennefick, D., Kennefick, J., & Lacy, C. H. S. 2008, ApJ, 678, L93CrossRefGoogle Scholar