Virial Masses of Black Holes from Single Epoch Spectra of AGN

Abstract

We describe the general problem of estimating black hole masses of AGN by calculating the conditional probability distribution of M_BH given some set of observables. Special attention is given to the case where one uses the AGN continuum luminosity and emission line widths to estimate M_BH, and we outline how to set up the conditional probability distribution of M_BH given the observed luminosity, line width, and redshift. We show how to combine the broad line estimates of M_BH with information from an intrinsic correlation between M_BH and L, and from the intrinsic distribution of M_BH, in a manner that improves the estimates of M_BH. Simulation was used to assess how the distribution of M_BH inferred from the broad line mass estimates differs from the intrinsic distribution, and we find that this can lead to an inferred distribution that is too broad. We use these results and a sample of 25 sources that have recent reverberation mapping estimates of AGN black hole masses to investigate the effectiveness of using the C IV emission line to estimate M_BH and to indirectly probe the C IV region size--luminosity (R--L) relationship. We estimated M_BH from both C IV and H-Beta for a sample of 100 sources, including new spectra of 29 quasars. We find that the two emission lines give consistent estimates if one assumes R \propto L^{1/2}_{UV} for both lines.