10986(  1) - 04/03/06 11:23  - [  1]

                  HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE OBSERVING PROGRAM 10986

Version: 1    Check-in Time: 03-Apr-2006 15:23:31

Title
Testing the coevolution of black holes and massive host galaxies to z=1.5
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Type             Cycle     Parallel Pointing Tolerance
AR               15        <none>
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Investigators
                                                                                     Contact?
    PI: Dr. Jong-Hak Woo                  University of California - Santa Barbara
   CoI: Prof. Tommaso L. Treu             University of California - Santa Barbara      N

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Abstract

Investigating the nature of the black hole-galaxy connection is essential for
understanding galaxy formation and evolution. We propose to test co-evolutionary
models by studying the scaling relations between black hole mass and stellar
velocity dispersion (sigma; BHS) or luminosity (BHL) out to z=1.5. To this aim, we
will perform two complementary investigations combining black hole masses of broad-
line quasars (from ground-based spectroscopy) with their host galaxy properties
(from HST images). On the one hand, for all 32 luminous quasars with massive host
galaxies at z~0.4 in the HST archive, we will measure effective radius and surface
brightness. This will provide an estimate of sigma via the Fundamental Plane (FP)
correlation, and thus the BHS relation. The nuclei of these objects are too bright
to measure sigma directly and therefore this methodology is required to extend the
BHS to black-hole masses above 10^9 solar masses. In combination with our direct
determination at smaller masses this study will be used to investigate mass
dependent evolution. On the other hand, at higher redshift (out to 1.5) -- where it
is not known if the hosts of bright QSOs obey the FP -- we will determine the BHL
relation by measuring luminosities for a sample of 75 broad-line AGNs selected from
GOODS-N/S fields.
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