AAS 196th Meeting, June 2000
Session 21. Supermassive Blackhole Research and Advances with STIS
Topical Session Oral, Tuesday, June 6, 2000, 8:30-10:00am, 10:45am-12:30pm, 2:00-3:30pm, 3:45-5:30pm, Lilac Ballroom

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[21.17] Black Hole Demographics in and nuclear properties of Nearby Low Luminosity Radio Galaxies; connections to radio activity?

S.A. Baum (STScI), G.A. Verdoes Kleijn (Leiden Observatory), C. Xu (STScI), C.P. O'Dea, P.T. de Zeeuw (Leiden Observatory)

\noindent We combine the results of an HST STIS and WFPC study of a complete sample of 21 nearby UGC low luminosity radio galaxies (see AAS abstract Verdoes Kleijn et al.) with the results of a radio VLA and VLBA study of the same sample. We examine the relationship between the stellar and gaseous properties of the galaxies on tens to hundreds of parsec scale with the properties of the radio jets on the same scale. From the VLA and VLBA data we constrain the physics of the outflowing radio plasma from the tens of parsecs to hundreds of kiloparsec scales. From the WFPC2 H\alpha and dust images and the STIS kinematics of the near nuclear gas we obtain constraints on the orientation of near nuclear disks of gas and measures of the nuclear stellar, continuum point source, and line emission fluxes. Under the statistically supported assumption that the radio jet issues perpendicular to the disk, we use the orientation of the optical (large scale accretion?) disks to constrain the three-dimensional orientation of the radio ejection. From HST/STIS spectroscopy of the near-nuclear emission line gas we obtain measures/limits on the black hole masses. We examine correlations between the VLBA and VLA-scale radio emission, the nuclear line emission, and the nuclear optical and radio continuum emission. Though our sample is relative small, it is uniquely well defined, spans a narrow range in redshift and we have a consistent set of high resolution data with which to carefully examine these relationships. We use the combined radio and optical data to (1) constrain the orientation, physics and bulk outflow speed of the radio plasma, (2) put limits on the mass accretion rate and study the relationship between black hole mass, radio luminosity, and near nuclear gaseous content, and (3) provide insight into the relationship between BL Lac objects and low luminosity radio galaxies.


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