Bibcode
Davis, Benjamin L.; Berlanga Medina, J. E.; Shields, D. W.; Kennefick, J.; Kennefick, D.; Berrier, J.; Seigar, M. S.; Lacy, C. H. S.; AGES
Bibliographical reference
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #215, #435.17; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.382
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1
2010
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Description
Recent studies by the Arkansas Galaxy Evolution Survey (AGES)
collaboration have shown that there is a strong correlation between the
pitch angles of field spiral galaxies and the mass of the galaxy's
supermassive black holes (SMBHs). For this reason, we are interested in
the consistency of measures of average pitch angle across galaxies in
different environments. Since galaxies in clusters are more susceptible
to galaxy harassment and other effects, we are particularly interested
in whether environmental pressures in clusters may have an effect on
pitch angle.
We have measured the pitch angles of 125 galaxies lying in the Chandra
Deep Field South (CDFS). Upon cross-referencing this set with the larger
COMBO-17 Survey, we identified several over-dense regions which have
been identified as possible clusters in recent literature. Initial
results show that when comparing the pitch angle of galaxies in and out
of over-dense regions, there seems to be little to no difference on
average, suggesting environmental effect of clusters on pitch angle may
be limited. Additionally, there appears to be no appreciable difference
between the pitch angles of red and blue galaxies at this point in our
study. We also plan to look for evidence of variation of pitch angle
with cluster age.
This work is funded in part by a grant from NASA EPSCoR.