Harry I. Ringermacher and Lawrence R. Mead 2009 The Astronomical Journal 137 4716 doi:10.1088/0004-6256/137/6/4716
Harry I. Ringermacher1 and Lawrence R. Mead2
Show affiliationsSeigar 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 the correlation.
galaxies: fundamental parameters; galaxies: spiral; galaxies: structure
Issue 6 (2009 June)
Received 2008 November 12, accepted for publication 2009 March 24
Published 2009 April 23
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