Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Simple Fit Of Data Relating Supermassive Black Hole Mass To Galaxy Pitch Angle, Harry I. Ringermacher, Lawrence R. Mead

Faculty Publications

Seigar et al. have recently demonstrated a new, tight correlation between galactic central supermassive black hole (BH) mass and the pitch angle of the spiral arm in disk galaxies which they attribute to other indirect correlations. They fit a double power law, governed by five parameters, to the BH mass as a function of pitch. Noting the features of their fitted curve, we show that a simple linear proportion of the BH mass to the cotangent of the pitch angle can obtain the same fit, within error. Such a direct, elegant fit may help shed light on the nature of …