Central Massive Black Holes Are Not Ubiquitous in Local Low-mass Galaxies

The black hole occupation fraction (f_occ) defines the fraction of galaxies that harbor central massive black holes (MBHs), irrespective of their accretion activity level. While it is widely accepted that f_occ is nearly 100% in local massive galaxies with stellar masses M_⋆ ≳ 10¹⁰ M_⊙, it is not yet clear whether MBHs are ubiquitous in less-massive galaxies. In this work, we present new constraints on f_occ based on over 20 yr of Chandra imaging data for 1606 galaxies within 50 Mpc. We employ a Bayesian model to simultaneously constrain f_occ and the specific accretion-rate distribution function, p(λ), where the specific accretion rate is defined as λ = L_X/M_⋆, where L_X is the MBH accretion luminosity in the 2–10 keV range. Notably, we find that p(λ) peaks around 10²⁸ erg s⁻¹ M_⊙⁻¹; above this value, p(λ) decreases with increasing λ, following a power law that smoothly connects with the probability distribution of bona fide active galactic nuclei. We also find that the occupation fraction decreases dramatically with decreasing M_⋆: in high-mass galaxies (M_⋆ ≈ 10¹¹⁻¹² M_⊙), the occupation fraction is >93% (a 2σ lower limit), and then declines to 66% _−7%^+8% (1σ errors) between M_⋆ ≈ 10⁹⁻¹⁰ M_⊙, and to 33 % − 9 % + 13 % in the dwarf galaxy regime between M_⋆ ≈ 10⁸⁻⁹ M_⊙. Our results have significant implications for the normalization of the MBH mass function over the mass range most relevant for tidal disruption events, extreme mass ratio inspirals, and MBH merger rates that upcoming facilities are poised to explore.