What is the origin of the M-sigma relation between supermassive black hole mass and galaxy velocity dispersion?

Question

Answer

The M–σ relation was first presented in 1999 during a conference at the

Institut d'astrophysique de Paris

in

France

. The proposed form of the relation, which was called the 'Faber–Jackson law for black holes', was

where

is the

solar mass

. Publication of the relation in a refereed journal, by two groups, took place the following

year

^. One recent study, based on a complete sample of published black hole masses in nearby galaxies, gives

Earlier work had demonstrated a possible relationship between galaxy luminosity and black hole mass, but that relationship had a large scatter.