M33: A Galaxy with No Supermassive Black Hole*

Karl Gebhardt; Tod R. Lauer; John Kormendy; Jason Pinkney; Gary A. Bower; Richard Green; Theodore Gull; J. B. Hutchings; M. E. Kaiser; Charles H. Nelson; Douglas Richstone; Donna Weistrop

doi:10.1086/323481

M33: A Galaxy with No Supermassive Black Hole^*

Karl Gebhardt¹, Tod R. Lauer², John Kormendy¹, Jason Pinkney³, Gary A. Bower², Richard Green², Theodore Gull⁴, J. B. Hutchings⁵, M. E. Kaiser⁶, Charles H. Nelson⁷, Douglas Richstone³, and Donna Weistrop⁷

© 2001. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
The Astronomical Journal, Volume 122, Number 5 Citation Karl Gebhardt et al 2001 AJ 122 2469 DOI 10.1086/323481

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Author affiliations

¹ Department of Astronomy, University of Texas, Austin, Mail Code C1400, Austin, TX 78712

² National Optical Astronomy Observatories, P.O. Box 26732, Tucson, AZ 85726

³ Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, 830 Dennison Building, Ann Arbor 48109

⁴ Laboratory for Astronomy and Solar Physics, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 681, Greenbelt, MD 20771

⁵ Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, National Research Council of Canada, BC V9E 2E7, Canada

⁶ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218

⁷ Department of Physics, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 South Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89154

Dates

Received 2001 July 6
Accepted 2001 July 19

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Abstract

Galaxies that contain bulges appear to contain central black holes whose masses correlate with the velocity dispersion of the bulge. We show that no corresponding relationship applies in the pure disk galaxy M33. Three-integral dynamical models fit Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 photometry and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph spectroscopy best if the central black hole mass is zero. The upper limit is 1500 M_⊙. This is significantly below the mass expected from the velocity dispersion of the nucleus and far below any mass predicted from the disk kinematics. Our results suggest that supermassive black holes are associated only with galaxy bulges and not with their disks.

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Footnotes

*
Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.

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