MEASUREMENT OF GALACTIC LOGARITHMIC SPIRAL ARM PITCH ANGLE USING TWO-DIMENSIONAL FAST FOURIER TRANSFORM DECOMPOSITION

A logarithmic spiral is a prominent feature appearing in a majority of observed galaxies. This feature has long been associated with the traditional Hubble classification scheme, but historical quotes of pitch angle of spiral galaxies have been almost exclusively qualitative.We have developed a meth...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Ivanio Puerari
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2012
País:México
Institución:Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica
Repositorio:Repositorio Institucional del INAOE
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:inaoe.repositorioinstitucional.mx:1009/1922
Acceso en línea:http://inaoe.repositorioinstitucional.mx/jspui/handle/1009/1922
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:info:eu-repo/classification/Inspec/Galaxies: fundamental parameters
info:eu-repo/classification/Inspec/Galaxies: spiral
info:eu-repo/classification/Inspec/Galaxies: structure
info:eu-repo/classification/cti/1
info:eu-repo/classification/cti/21
Descripción
Sumario:A logarithmic spiral is a prominent feature appearing in a majority of observed galaxies. This feature has long been associated with the traditional Hubble classification scheme, but historical quotes of pitch angle of spiral galaxies have been almost exclusively qualitative.We have developed a methodology, utilizing two-dimensional fast Fourier transformations of images of spiral galaxies, in order to isolate and measure the pitch angles of their spiral arms. Our technique provides a quantitative way to measure this morphological feature. This will allow comparison of spiral galaxy pitch angle to other galactic parameters and test spiral arm genesis theories. In this work, we detail our image processing and analysis of spiral galaxy images and discuss the robustness of our analysis techniques.