An Efficient Strategy to Select Targets for Gasdynamical Measurements of Black Hole Masses Using the Hubble Space Telescope

Abstract

Gasdynamical studies using the Hubble Space Telescope are an integral component for future progress in the search for massive black holes in galactic nuclei. Here we present an extensive set of gas rotation curves obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph for the central regions of 23 disk galaxies. We find that the bulges of randomly selected, nearby spiral and S0 galaxies generally do not contain well-defined gaseous disks. Only 15%-20% of disk galaxies have regular, symmetric velocity fields useful for dynamical analysis. Through comparison of the kinematics with Hubble Space Telescope images of the nuclear regions, we show that the probability of success can be significantly boosted by preselecting objects whose central dust lanes follow a well-ordered, circularly symmetric pattern. The dust morphology can be ascertained efficiently by visual inspection of unsharp-masked images. Based on observations made with the Hubble Space Telescope, which is operated by AURA, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.