• DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/720/1/516
• Corpus ID: 118632899

A CORRELATION BETWEEN CENTRAL SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES AND THE GLOBULAR CLUSTER SYSTEMS OF EARLY-TYPE GALAXIES

@article{Burkert2010ACB,
  title={A CORRELATION BETWEEN CENTRAL SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES AND THE GLOBULAR CLUSTER SYSTEMS OF EARLY-TYPE GALAXIES},
  author={Andreas Burkert and Scott Tremaine},
  journal={The Astrophysical Journal},
  year={2010},
  volume={720},
  pages={516 - 521}
}

• A. Burkert, S. Tremaine
• Published 1 April 2010
• Physics
• The Astrophysical Journal

Elliptical, lenticular, and early-type spiral galaxies show a remarkably tight power-law correlation between the mass M• of their central supermassive black hole (SMBH) and the number NGC of globular clusters (GCs): M• = m•/⋆ × N1.08±0.04GC with m•/⋆ = 1.7 × 105 M☉. Thus, to a good approximation the SMBH mass is the same as the total mass of the GCs. Based on a limited sample of 13 galaxies, this relation appears to be a better predictor of SMBH mass (rms scatter 0.2 dex) than the M•–σ relation between SMBH mass and velocity dispersion σ. The small scatter reflects the fact that galaxies with high GC specific frequency SN tend to harbor SMBHs that are more massive than expected from the M•–σ relation.