Published by
EDP Sciences
EDP Sciences Journals List
Subscriber Authentication Point
Home All issues Volume 435/ 3 Article
Free access
Issue A&A
Volume 435, Number 3, June I 2005
Page(s) 811 - 820
Section Extragalactic astronomy
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20041206



A&A 435, 811-820 (2005)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20041206

The mass of the black hole in 3C 273

S. Paltani1 and M. Türler2, 3

1  Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, BP 8, 13376 Marseille Cedex 12, France
    e-mail: Stephane.Paltani@obs.unige.ch
2  INTEGRAL Science Data Centre, Ch. d'Écogia 16, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
3  Geneva Observatory, Ch. des Maillettes 51, 1290 Sauverny, Switzerland

(Received 30 April 2004 / Accepted 7 January 2005)

Abstract
In this paper we apply the reverberation method to determine the mass of the black hole in 3C 273 from the Ly$\alpha$ and CIV emission lines using archival IUE observations. Following the standard assumptions of the method, we find a maximum-likelihood estimate of the mass of $6.59\times 10^9~M_\odot$, with a $1\sigma$ confidence interval $5.69{-}8.27\times 10^9\,M_\odot$. This estimate is more than one order of magnitude larger than that obtained in a previous study using Balmer lines. We reanalyze the optical data and show that the method applied to the H$\alpha$, H$\beta$, and H$\gamma$ Balmer lines produce mass estimates lower by a factor 2.5, but already much larger than the previous estimate derived from the same lines. The finding of such a high mass in a face-on object is a strong indication that the gas motion is not confined to the accretion disk. The new mass estimate makes 3C 273 accreting with an accretion rate about six times lower than the Eddington rate. We discuss the implications of our result for the broad-line-region size and black-hole mass vs. luminosity relationships for the set of objects for which reverberation black-hole masses have been obtained. We find that, while objects with super-Eddington luminosities might theoretically be possible, their existence is not necessarily implied by this sample.


Key words: line: profiles -- galaxies: quasars: emission lines -- galaxies: quasars: individual: 3C 273 -- ultraviolet: galaxies

SIMBAD Objects



© ESO 2005

What is OpenURL?

The OpenURL standard is a protocol for transmission of metadata describing the resource that you wish to access. An OpenURL link contains article metadata and directs it to the OpenURL server of your choice. The OpenURL server can provide access to the resource and also offer complementary services (specific search engine, export of references...). The OpenURL link can be generated by different means.
  • If your librarian has set up your subscription with an OpenURL resolver, OpenURL links appear automatically on the abstract pages.
  • You can define your own OpenURL resolver with your EDPS Account. In this case your choice will be given priority over that of your library.
  • You can use an add-on for your browser (Firefox or I.E.) to display OpenURL links on a page (see http://www.openly.com/openurlref/). You should disable this module if you wish to use the OpenURL server that you or your library have defined.