Michele Cappellari

Abstract:

Time-delay distance measurements from strongly lensed quasars provide a robust and independent method for determining the Hubble constant (H0). This approach offers a crucial cross-check against H0 measurements obtained from the standard distance ladder in the late Universe and the cosmic microwave background in the early Universe. The mass-sheet degeneracy in strong-lensing models may introduce a significant systematic uncertainty, however, that limits the precision of H0 estimates. Dynamical modeling complements strong lensing very well to break the mass-sheet degeneracy because both methods model the mass distribution of galaxies, but rely on different sets of observational constraints. We developed a method and software framework for an efficient joint modeling of stellar kinematic and lensing data. Using simulated lensing and kinematic data of the lensed quasar system RXJ1131−1131 as a test case, we demonstrate that a precision of approximately 4% on H0 can be achieved with high-quality data that have a high signal-to-noise ratio. Through extensive modeling, we examined the impact of a supermassive black hole in the lens galaxy and potential systematic biases in kinematic data on the H0 measurements. Our results demonstrate that either using a prior range for the black hole mass and orbital anisotropy, as motivated by studies of nearby galaxies, or excluding the central bins in the kinematic data can effectively mitigate potential biases on H0 induced by the black hole. By testing the model on mock kinematic data with values that were systematically biased, we emphasize that it is important to use kinematic data with systematic errors below the subpercent level, which can currently be achieved. Additionally, we leveraged GPU parallelization to accelerate the Bayesian inference. This reduced a previously month-long process by an order of magnitude. This pipeline offers significant potential for advancing cosmological and galaxy evolution studies with large datasets.

Abstract:

We obtain spatially resolved kinematics with the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI) integral-field spectrograph for a sample of 14 massive ( 11

Abstract:

We present high angular resolution (0.19 arcsec or pc) Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of the CO(3–2) line emission of the galaxy NGC 4751. The data provide evidence for the presence of a central supermassive black hole (SMBH). Assuming a constant mass-to-light ratio (), we infer a SMBH mass M and a F160W filter stellar M/L, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second systematic. Assuming a linearly spatially varying , we infer M and , where R is the galactocentric radius. We also present SMBH mass estimates using the Jeans Anisotropic Modelling (JAM) method and Very Large Telescope Spectrograph for INtegral Field Observations in the Near Infrared (SINFONI) stellar kinematics. Assuming a cylindrically aligned velocity ellipsoid (JAM), we infer M, and while assuming a spherically aligned velocity ellipsoid (JAM), we infer M. The SMBH mass assuming a constant is statistically consistent with that of JAM, whereas the mass assuming a linearly varying is consistent with both JAM and JAM (within the uncertainties). Our derived masses are larger than (and inconsistent with) one previous stellar dynamical measurement using the Schwarzschild orbit-superposition method and the same SINFONI kinematics.

Abstract:

Understanding the demographics of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs, MBH ≈ 102–105 M⊙) in low-mass galaxies is key to constraining black hole seed formation models, but detecting them is challenging due to their small gravitational sphere of influence (SOI). The upcoming Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) High Angular Resolution Monolithic Optical and Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrograph (HARMONI) instrument, with its high angular resolution, offers a promising solution. We present simulations assessing HARMONI’s ability to measure IMBH masses in nuclear star clusters (NSCs) of nearby dwarf galaxies. We selected a sample of 44 candidates within 10 Mpc. For two representative targets, NGC 300 and NGC 3115 dw01, we generated mock HARMONI integral-field data cubes using realistic inputs derived from Hubble Space Telescope imaging, stellar population models, and Jeans anisotropic models (JAM), assuming IMBH masses up to 1% of the NSC mass. We simulated observations across six near-infrared gratings at 10 mas resolution. Analyzing the mock data with standard kinematic extraction and JAM models in a Bayesian framework, we demonstrate that HARMONI can resolve the IMBH SOI and accurately recover masses down to ≈0.5% of the NSC mass within feasible exposure times. These results highlight HARMONI’s potential to revolutionize IMBH studies.