THE MASS OF THE BLACK HOLE IN Arp 151 FROM BAYESIAN MODELING OF REVERBERATION MAPPING DATA

Supermassive black holes are believed to be ubiquitous at the centers of\ngalaxies. Measuring their masses is extremely challenging yet essential for\nunderstanding their role in the formation and evolution of cosmic structure. We\npresent a direct measurement of the mass of a black hole in an active galactic\nnucleus (Arp 151) based on the motion of the gas responsible for the broad\nemission lines. By analyzing and modeling spectroscopic and photometric time\nseries, we find that the gas is well described by a disk or torus with an\naverage radius of 3.99 +- 1.25 light days and an opening angle of 68.9 (+21.4,\n-17.2) degrees, viewed at an inclination angle of 67.8 +- 7.8 degrees (that is,\ncloser to face-on than edge-on). The black hole mass is inferred to be 10^(6.51\n+- 0.28) solar masses. The method is fully general and can be used to determine\nthe masses of black holes at arbitrary distances, enabling studies of their\nevolution over cosmic time.\n