A Correlation between Galaxy Light Concentration and Supermassive Black Hole Mass

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Abstract
We present evidence for a strong correlation between the concentration of bulges and the mass of their central supermassive black hole (Mbh)—more concentrated bulges have more massive black holes. Using C(1/3) from Trujillo, Graham, & Caon as a measure of bulge concentration, we find that log(Mbh/M☉) = 6.81(±0.95)C(1/3) + 5.03 ± 0.41. This correlation is shown to be marginally stronger (Spearman's rs = 0.91) than the relationship between the logarithm of the stellar velocity dispersion and log Mbh (Spearman's rs = 0.86) and has comparable or less scatter (0.31 dex in log Mbh, which decreases to 0.19 dex when we use only those galaxies whose supermassive black hole radii of influence are resolved and we remove one well-understood outlying data point).