2004/01/01 by Marc S. Seigar, David Block, David L. Block +1 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Falling (accident) #Fourier analysis #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Galaxy rotation curve #Pitch angle #Rotation (mathematics) #Scientific Research and Discoveries #Shear (geology) #Spiral galaxy #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-2862-5_12
9 pages, 5 figures, to appear in proceeding to a conference entitled "Penetrating Bars Through Masks of Cosmic Dust: The Hubble Tuning Fork Strikes A New Note"
openalex publication_date 2004/01/01 · arxiv created 2004/06/22 · arxiv updated 2016/01/27 · openalex created_date 2020/06/05 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We present near-infrared K-band images of 15 galaxies. We have performed a Fourier analysis on the spiral structure of these galaxies in order to determine their pitch angles and dust-penetrated arm classes. We have also obtained rotation curve data for these galaxies and calculated their shear rates. We show that there is a correlation between pitch angle and shear rate and conclude that the main determinant of pitch angle is the mass distribution within the galaxy. This correlation provides a physical basis for the dust-penetrated classification scheme of Block & Puerari (1999).