Black Hole Masses of High-Redshift Quasars

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Black-hole masses of distant quasars cannot be measured directly, but can be estimated to within a factor 3 to 5 using scaling relationships involving the quasar luminosity and broad-line width. Why such relationships are reasonable is summarized. The results of applying scaling relationships to data of quasars at a range of redshifts (z ≤ 6.3) are presented. Luminous quasars typically have masses ~ 109M⊙ even at the highest redshifts. The fact that such massive black holes appear as early as at z ≈ 6 indicate that black holes form very early or build up mass very fast.
Original languageEnglish
JournalMULTIWAVELENGTH AGN SURVEYS. Proceedings of the Guillermo Haro Conference 2003. Held 8-12 December 2003 in Cozumel, Mexico. Edited by Raúl Mújica (Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica, Mexico) & Roberto Maiolino (INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Italy)
Pages (from-to)385-388
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2004
Externally publishedYes

ID: 230100634