The Mass-Luminosity Relation in AGN

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dc.creatorWandel, Amri
dc.date1998-08-17
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T02:27:38Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T02:27:38Z
dc.descriptionProbably the most fundamental characteristic of the quasar-AGN power house, the mass of the central black hole, is the least well known. I review the three main classes of mass estimation methods---broad emission-line kinematics, X-ray variability and accretion-disk modeling, and the masses they give in terms of the Eddington ratio, $L/L_{\rm Edd}$. The broad emission lines are probably the best probe of the central mass. They provide mass estimates that suggest a narrow spread for the Eddington ratio - 1--2 orders of magnitude over more than six orders of magnitude in continuum luminosity, possibly indicating a universal $M/L$ ratio for AGN. However, other methods give a larger spread and possibly a luminosity- dependent Eddington ratio. Potential sources of errors and bias are discussed.
dc.description13 pages, Latex (aspconf.sty), 4 postscript figures. Also available at http://shum.cc.huji.ac.il/~amri/papers/ml Review to appear in procs. of "Structure and Kinematics of Quasar Broad Line Regions" (23-26 March 1998, Lincoln, Nebraska) eds. Gaskell, C. M., Brandt, W. N., Dietrich, M., Dultzin-Hacyan, D. & Eracleous, M. (ASP Press: San Francisco)
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9808171
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9808171
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/12780
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleThe Mass-Luminosity Relation in AGN
dc.typetext

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