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Logarithmic Spiral Arm Pitch Angle Of Spiral Galaxies: Measurement And Relationship To Galactic Structure And Nuclear Supermassive Black Hole Mass, Benjamin Lee Davis
Logarithmic Spiral Arm Pitch Angle Of Spiral Galaxies: Measurement And Relationship To Galactic Structure And Nuclear Supermassive Black Hole Mass, Benjamin Lee Davis
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
In this dissertation, I explore the geometric structure of spiral galaxies and how the visible structure can provide information about the central mass of a galaxy, the density of its galactic disk, and the hidden mass of the supermassive black hole in its nucleus. In order to quantitatively measure the logarithmic spiral pitch angle (a measurement of tightness of the winding) of galactic spiral arms, I led an effort in our research group (the Arkansas Galaxy Evolution Survey) to modify existing two-dimensional fast Fourier transform software to increase its efficacy and accuracy. Using this software, I was able to lead …