The (black hole mass)-(color) relations for early- and late-type galaxies: red and blue sequences


Abstract in English

[Abridged] Tight correlations between supermassive black hole (SMBH) mass ($M_{rm BH}$) and the properties of the host galaxy have useful implications for our understanding of the growth of SMBHs and evolution of galaxies. Here, we present newly observed correlations between $M_{rm BH}$ and the host galaxy total UV$-$ [3.6] color ($mathcal{C_{rm UV,tot}}$, Pearsons r = $0.6-0.7$) for a sample of 67 galaxies (20 early-type galaxies and 47 late-type galaxies) with directly measured $M_{rm BH}$ in the GALEX/S$^{4}$G survey. The colors are carefully measured in a homogeneous manner using the galaxies FUV, NUV and 3.6 $micron$ magnitudes and their multi-component structural decompositions in the literature. We find that more massive SMBHs are hosted by (early- and late-type) galaxies with redder colors, but the $M_{rm BH}- mathcal{C_{rm UV,tot}}$ relations for the two morphological types have slopes that differ at $sim 2 sigma$ level. Early-type galaxies define a red sequence in the $M_{rm BH}- mathcal{C_{rm UV,tot}}$ diagrams, while late-type galaxies trace a blue sequence. Within the assumption that the specific star formation rate of a galaxy (sSFR) is well traced by $L_{rm UV}/L_{rm 3.6}$, it follows that the SMBH masses for late-type galaxies exhibit a steeper dependence on sSFR than those for early-type galaxies. The $M_{rm BH}- mathcal{C_{rm UV,tot}}$ and $M_{rm BH}-L_{rm 3.6,tot}$ relations for the sample galaxies reveal a comparable level of vertical scatter in the log $M_{rm BH}$ direction, roughly $5%-27%$ more than the vertical scatter of the $M_{rm BH}-sigma$ relation. Our $M_{rm BH}- mathcal{C_{rm UV,tot}}$ relations suggest different channels of SMBH growth for early- and late-type galaxies, consistent with their distinct formation and evolution scenarios.

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