The independence of active galactic nucleus black hole mass and radio loudness

We revisit the issue of whether radio loudness in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is associated with central black hole mass, as has been suggested in the literature. We present new estimates of black hole mass for 295 AGNs (mostly radio quiet), calculating their radio loudnesses from published radio and optical fluxes, and combine with our previously published values, for a sample of 452 AGNs for which both black hole mass and radio loudness (or upper limits thereto) are known. Among the radio-quiet AGNs, there are now many black holes with mass larger than 10 9 M, extending to the same high black hole masses as radio-loud AGNs of the same redshifts. Over the full sample, the black hole masses of radio-loud and radio-quiet AGNs span the same large range, 10(6)-10(10) M.. We conclude that radio loudness in AGNs does not depend strongly on central black hole mass.