Deep NIR JHK imaging have already obtained with the instruments SoFI at the New Technology Telescope, and LUCI at the Large Binocular Telescope. The targets were drawn from the CARS mother sample, so that we have only partial overlap with the CARS sample. Observations are currently in preparation for autumn this year at the SOAR telescope in Chile to complete the NIR imaging for the CARS sample.

The NIR imaging is important for the CARS survey as they provide

• morphological information of the host galaxy
• detailed disc-bar-bulge image decomposition
• estimate the stellar mass of the host galaxy
• probe the BH mass - Bulge mass/luminosity relation

Observations of the existing NIR data have already been published  (see Publications) and showed that the bulges appear lighter than expected from the standard BH mass - bulge mass relation, which could be related to a younger stellar population. As part of CARS we will verify this scenario by combining various other diagnostics of the bulge mass and kinematics.