The Millennium Galaxy Catalogue: The nearby supermassive black hole mass function

Authors: Simon P. Driver, Alister W. Graham, Paul D. Allen, Jochen Liske

Abstract: We highlight the correlation between a galaxy's supermassive black hole mass and the Sersic index, n, of the host spheroid or bulge component. From our bulge-disk decompositions of 10 095 galaxies, drawn from the Millennium Galaxy Catalogue, we construct the local (z < 0.18) mass function of supermassive black holes. We compare our results to those of McLure & Dunlop (2004) and conclude that the mass density of supermassive black holes may be marginally higher than previously supposed. This increase is predominantly due to the inclusion of low mass and later-type bulges. More details will be presented in a forthcoming paper.