A reverberation-based black hole mass for MCG-06-30-15

Abstract

We present the results of a reverberation campaign targeting MGC-06-30-15. Spectrophotometric monitoring and broad-band photometric monitoring over the course of 4 months in the spring of 2012 allowed a determination of a time delay in the broad Hβ emission line of τ =5.3 ± 1.8 days in the rest frame of the AGN. Combined with the width of the variable portion of the emission line, we determine a black hole mass of MBH = (1.6 ± 0.4) x 106 M_sun. Both the Hβ time delay and the black hole mass are in good agreement with expectations from the RBLR - L and MBH - σ* relationships for other reverberation-mapped AGNs. The Hβ time delay is also in good agreement with the relationship between H and broad-band near-IR delays, in which the effective BLR size is ∼4-5 times smaller than the inner edge of the dust torus. Additionally, the reverberation-based mass is in good agreement with estimates from the X-ray power spectral density break scaling relationship, and with constraints based on stellar kinematics derived from integral field spectroscopy of the inner ∼ 0.5 kpc of the galaxy.