Supermassive black holes are essential components of galaxies - they regulate galaxy properties and impact star formation via feedback processes, dynamically influence the shape of galaxies, and give rise to exotic phenomena such as the ejection of high-velocity stars. About 90 black hole mass measurements in nearby galaxies have been built up over the past two decades, leading to the establishment of tight correlations between the mass of a central black hole and its host galaxy’s large-scale properties. Our understanding of the underlying physics driving the empirical relations, however, is limited by the present sample of galaxies. In particular, dynamical black hole mass determinations have been preferentially made in galaxies with small sizes at a given luminosity relative to the local galaxy population.
Our program addresses this troublesome bias using Gemini NIFS behind laser guide star adaptive optics to detect and weigh black holes in 31 nearby galaxies. By specifically targeting those galaxies with sizes and luminosities that are currently not well represented in the existing sample of black hole mass measurements, we will obtain a more complete census of local black holes in a wide range of galaxies with diverse evolutionary histories. Forgoing the approach that we have used for years of measuring a few black holes at a time, and instead examining large, homogenous datasets of carefully selected samples is the ideal way to achieve a breakthrough in our understanding the co-evolution of black holes and galaxies before the next generation of large telescopes come online.