Black holes in low-mass bulges and pseudobulges

Abstract Over the past decade we have learned that probably all ellipticals and bulges contain a central supermassive black hole (SMBH). The mass of the SMBH correlates both with the mass of the bulge component (about 0.15% of the bulge mass) and with the velocity dispersion σ of the bulge. We are investigating whether these relations remain valid or how they change when galaxies with pseudobulges, very low-mass bulges or bulgeless galaxies are considered. Studying SMBH relations for both classical bulges and pseudobulges can reveal the importance of different growing mechanisms (mergers vs. secular evolution) for the evolution of SMBHs. Low-mass classical bulges and bulgeless galaxies may harbour seed black holes in their earliest evolutionary stages, and studying them is of paramount importance for understanding the link between bulge evolution and black hole growth.