Misty C. Bentz (born July 4, 1980) is an American astrophysicist and Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Georgia State University. She is best known for her work on supermassive black hole mass measurements and black hole scaling relationships.

Career

Bentz studied physics and astronomy at the University of Washington and received her PhD in Astronomy at The Ohio State University in 2007.[1] Bentz was a postdoctoral researcher (2007–2009) and a NASA Hubble Fellow[2] (2009–2010) at the University of California, Irvine. In 2010, she joined the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Georgia State University.

Work

Bentz is most well known for her work using reverberation mapping to determine the masses of supermassive black holes in the center of active galaxies.[3][4][5][6] She currently maintains The AGN Black Hole Mass Database which gives SMBH mass measurements for over 60 active galaxies.[7] Using these SMBH mass measurements, Bentz has also contributed to calibration of several black hole scaling relationships. These relationships include black hole mass to galaxy stellar mass[8] and broad-line region radius to AGN luminosity.[9][10] The calibration of these relationships allows black hole mass estimates to be compiled for large statistical samples, and they provide observational constraints for large high-resolution hydrodynamical cosmological simulations meant to probe galaxy formation and evolution over cosmic time, e.g. the Illustris[11] and Horizon-AGN simulations.[12]

In 2013, Bentz was selected as one of twenty-two astronomers to chart the road map of NASA astrophysics for the next thirty years.[13] She also was the technical editor of the 4th edition of Astronomy for Dummies.[14] She is regularly quoted in popular media, such as Popular Science, Business Insider, Live Science, and Mashable, regarding black holes.[15]

References

  1. ↑ "Ph.D. Degree Alumni | Department of Astronomy". astronomy.osu.edu. Retrieved 2019-08-22.
  2. ↑ "2017 and Prior Fellows". STScI. Retrieved 2019-08-22.
  3. ↑ Bentz, Misty C.; et al. (10 November 2006). "A Reverberation-based Mass for the Central Black Hole in NGC 4151". The Astrophysical Journal. 651 (2): 775–781. arXiv:astro-ph/0607085. Bibcode:2006ApJ...651..775B. doi:10.1086/507417. hdl:1811/48186. ISSN 0004-637X. S2CID 18591261.
  4. ↑ Bentz, Misty C.; Walsh, Jonelle L.; Barth, Aaron J.; Baliber, Nairn; Bennert, Vardha Nicola; Canalizo, Gabriela; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Ganeshalingam, Mohan; Gates, Elinor L. (8 October 2009). "THE LICK AGN MONITORING PROJECT: BROAD-LINE REGION RADII AND BLACK HOLE MASSES FROM REVERBERATION MAPPING OF H$\upbeta$". The Astrophysical Journal. 705 (1): 199–217. arXiv:0908.0003. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/705/1/199. ISSN 0004-637X. S2CID 16104319.
  5. ↑ Bentz, Misty C.; Walsh, Jonelle L.; Barth, Aaron J.; Yoshii, Yuzuru; Woo, Jong-Hak; Wang, Xiaofeng; Treu, Tommaso; Thornton, Carol E.; Street, Rachel A. (26 May 2010). "The Lick Agn Monitoring Project: Reverberation Mapping of Optical Hydrogen and Helium Recombination Lines". The Astrophysical Journal. 716 (2): 993–1011. arXiv:1004.2922. Bibcode:2010ApJ...716..993B. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/716/2/993. hdl:1969.1/178703. ISSN 0004-637X.
  6. ↑ Bentz, Misty C.; Cackett, Edward M.; Crenshaw, D. Michael; Horne, Keith; Street, Rachel; Ou-Yang, Benjamin (18 October 2016). "A Reverberation-Based Black Hole Mass for MCG-06-30-15". The Astrophysical Journal. 830 (2): 136. arXiv:1608.01229. Bibcode:2016ApJ...830..136B. doi:10.3847/0004-637X/830/2/136. hdl:10023/9842. ISSN 0004-637X. S2CID 55215269.
  7. ↑ Katz, Sarah; Bentz, Misty C. (2015). "The AGN Black Hole Mass Database". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 127 (947): 67. arXiv:1411.2596. Bibcode:2015PASP..127...67B. doi:10.1086/679601. ISSN 1538-3873.
  8. ↑ Bentz, Misty C.; Manne-Nicholas, Emily (2018-09-11). "Black Hole–Galaxy Scaling Relationships for Active Galactic Nuclei with Reverberation Masses". The Astrophysical Journal. 864 (2): 146. arXiv:1808.01329. Bibcode:2018ApJ...864..146B. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aad808. ISSN 1538-4357. S2CID 118936123.
  9. ↑ Bentz, Misty C.; Peterson, Bradley M.; Netzer, Hagai; Pogge, Richard W.; Vestergaard, Marianne (April 2009). "THE RADIUS-LUMINOSITY RELATIONSHIP FOR ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI: THE EFFECT OF HOST-GALAXY STARLIGHT ON LUMINOSITY MEASUREMENTS. II. THE FULL SAMPLE OF REVERBERATION-MAPPED AGNs". The Astrophysical Journal. 697 (1): 160–181. arXiv:0812.2283. Bibcode:2009ApJ...697..160B. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/697/1/160. hdl:1811/48311. ISSN 0004-637X. S2CID 250872901.
  10. ↑ Bentz, Misty C.; Denney, Kelly D.; Grier, Catherine J.; Barth, Aaron J.; Peterson, Bradley M.; Vestergaard, Marianne; Bennert, Vardha N.; Canalizo, Gabriela; Rosa, Gisella De (April 2013). "The Low-Luminosity End of the Radius-Luminosity Relationship for Active Galactic Nuclei". The Astrophysical Journal. 767 (2): 149. arXiv:1303.1742. Bibcode:2013ApJ...767..149B. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/767/2/149. ISSN 0004-637X.
  11. ↑ Mutlu-Pakdil, Burçin; Seigar, Marc S.; Hewitt, Ian B.; Treuthardt, Patrick; Berrier, Joel C.; Koval, Lauren E. (14 November 2017). "The Illustris simulation: supermassive black hole–galaxy connection beyond the bulge". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 474 (2): 2594–2606. arXiv:1711.03958. doi:10.1093/mnras/stx2935. ISSN 0035-8711.
  12. ↑ Volonteri, M.; Dubois, Y.; Pichon, C.; Devriendt, J. (12 May 2016). "The cosmic evolution of massive black holes in the Horizon-AGN simulation". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 460 (3): 2979–2996. arXiv:1602.01941. doi:10.1093/mnras/stw1123. ISSN 0035-8711.
  13. ↑ "Astrophysics Roadmap | Science Mission Directorate". science.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2019-07-12.
  14. ↑ Maran, Stephen P. (2017). Astronomy for Dummies (4th ed.). Wiley. ISBN 978-1-119-37438-1.
  15. ↑ Examples include the following:
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