Masses of quasars.
Abstract
Quasar masses are investigated assuming that accretion on to massive black holes is the ultimate source of energy produced by quasars. Lower limit for the total energy emitted and the mass accumulated in black holes in one cubic Gpc is calculated using various data on quasar counts and bolometric luminosities. The energy produced is at least 8.5 x 10 to the 66th erg/cubic Gpc. This result is independent of the cosmological model. Assuming that quasars reside in nuclei of giant galaxies it is shown that minimum masses of dead quasars are of the order of 100 million solar masses, close to the observational threshold for ground-based telescopes.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- July 1982
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/200.1.115
- Bibcode:
- 1982MNRAS.200..115S
- Keywords:
-
- Astronomical Models;
- Black Holes (Astronomy);
- Galactic Evolution;
- Galactic Nuclei;
- Mass;
- Quasars;
- Bolometers;
- Luminosity;
- Red Shift;
- Spectrophotometry;
- Stellar Mass Accretion;
- Astrophysics