A LOCAL BASELINE OF THE BLACK HOLE MASS SCALING RELATIONS FOR ACTIVE GALAXIES. II. MEASURING STELLAR VELOCITY DISPERSION IN ACTIVE GALAXIES

We derive spatially resolved stellar kinematics for a sample of 84 out of 104 observed local (0.02 < z < 0.09) galaxies hosting type-1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs), based on long-slit spectra obtained at the 10 m W. M. Keck-1 Telescope. In addition to providing central stellar velocity dispersions, we measure major axis rotation curves and velocity dispersion profiles using three separate wavelength regions, including the prominent Ca H&K, Mg Ib, and Ca II NIR stellar features. In this paper, we compare kinematic measurements of stellar velocity dispersion obtained for different apertures, wavelength regions, and signal-to-noise ratios, and provide recipes to cross-calibrate the measurements reducing systematic effects to the level of a few percent. We also provide simple recipes based on readily observable quantities such as global colors and Ca H&K equivalent width that will allow observers of high-redshift AGN hosts to increase the probability of obtaining reliable stellar kinematic measurements from unresolved spectra in the region surrounding the Ca H&K lines. In subsequent papers in this series, we will combine this unprecedented spectroscopic data set with surface photometry and black hole mass measurements to study in detail the scaling relations between host galaxy properties and black hole mass.