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Defining the (Black Hole)-Spheroid Connection with the Discovery of Morphology-Dependent Substructure in the $M_{\rm BH}$--$\rm n_{sph}$ and $M_{\rm BH}$--$\rm R_{e, sph}$ Diagrams: New Tests for Advanced Theories and Realistic Simulations

For 123 local galaxies with directly-measured black hole masses ($M_{\rm BH}$), we provide the host spheroid's Sérsic index ($\rm n_{sph}$), effective half-light radius ($\rm R_{e,sph}$), and effective surface brightness ($μ_e$), obtained from careful multi-component decompositions, and we use these to derive the morphology-dependent $M_{\rm BH}$--$\rm n_{sph}$ and $M_{\rm BH}$--$\rm R_{e,sph}$ relations. We additionally present the morphology-dependent $M_{\rm *,sph}$--$\rm n_{sph}$ and $M_{\rm *,sph}$--$\rm R_{e,sph}$ relations. We explored differences due to: early-type galaxies (ETGs) versus late-type galaxies (LTGs); Sérsic versus core-Sérsic galaxies; barred versus non-barred galaxies; and galaxies with and without a stellar disk. We detect two different $M_{\rm BH}$--$\rm n_{sph}$ relations due to ETGs and LTGs with power-law slopes $3.95\pm0.34$ and $2.85\pm 0.31$. We additionally quantified the correlation between $M_{\rm BH}$ and the spheroid's central concentration index, which varies monotonically with the Sérsic index. Furthermore, we observe a single, near-linear $M_{\rm *,sph}$--$\rm R_{e,sph}^{1.08\pm 0.04}$ relation for ETGs and LTGs, which encompasses both classical and alleged pseudobulges. In contrast, ETGs and LTGs define two distinct $M_{\rm BH}$--$\rm R_{e,sph}$ relations with $Δ_{\rm rms|BH}\sim\rm 0.60~dex$ (cf.\ $\sim$0.51~dex for the $M_{\rm BH}$--$σ$ relation and $\sim$0.58~dex for the $M_{\rm BH}$--$M_{\rm *,sph}$ relation), and the ETGs alone define two steeper $M_{\rm BH}$--$\rm R_{e,sph}$ relations, offset by $\sim$1~dex in the $\log M_{\rm BH}$-direction, depending on whether they have a disk or not and explaining their similar offset in the $M_{\rm BH}$--$M_{\rm *,sph}$ diagram. This trend holds using $10 \%$, $50 \%$, or $90 \%$ radii.(Abridged)

preprint2021arXivOpen access

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