2007ApJ...670..105O

We present a stellar dynamical estimate of the black hole (BH) mass in the Seyfert 1 galaxy, NGC 4151. We analyze ground-based spectroscopy as well as imaging data from the ground and space, and we construct three-integral axisymmetric models in order to constrain the BH mass and mass-to-light ratio. The dynamical models depend on the assumed inclination of the kinematic symmetry axis of the stellar bulge. In the case in which the bulge is assumed to be viewed edge-on, the kinematical data give only an upper limit to the mass of the BH, of ∼4x10⁷ M_☉(1 σ). If the bulge kinematic axis is assumed to have the same inclination as the symmetry axis of the large-scale galaxy disk (i.e., 23° relative to the line of sight), a best-fit dynamical mass between 4 and 5x10⁷ M_☉ is obtained. However, because of the poor quality of the fit when the bulge is assumed to be inclined (as determined by the noisiness of the χ² surface and its minimum value) and because we lack spectroscopic data that clearly resolves the BH sphere of influence, we consider our measurements to be tentative estimates of the dynamical BH mass. With this preliminary result, NGC 4151 is now among the small sample of galaxies in which the BH mass has been constrained from two independent techniques, and the mass values we find for both bulge inclinations are in reasonable agreement with the recent estimate from reverberation mapping (4.57^+0.57_–0.47x10⁷ M_☉) published by Bentz et al.