Supermassive Black Hole Mass and Spiral Galaxy Pitch Angle at Intermediate to High Redshift

Hughes, John A.; Barrows, R. S.; Berrier, J. C.; Davis, B. L.; Kennefick, D.; Kennefick, J. D.; Lacy, C. H. S.; Seigar, M. S.; Shields, D. W.; Zoldak, K. A.
Bibliographical reference

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #219, #107.05

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1
2012
Number of authors
10
IAC number of authors
0
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
A possible correlation between spiral galaxy pitch angle (P) and the mass of the central supermassive black hole (SMBH) of the galaxy (M) was reported (Seigar et al. 2008) from a sample of 27 nearby galaxies. Here we investigate the extension of this result to intermediate and high redshifts. We have selected AGN showing spiral structure in their host galaxies from the GOODS fields and from a sample of AGN with reverberation mapping SMBH mass estimates. After careful measure of the pitch angle of these galaxies, we compare the mass found from the M-P relation to that reported from reverberation mapping or estimated from their MgII profiles. By extending the sample to higher redshift, we demonstrate how the M-P relationship can be used to estimate the mass of SMBHs in the center of galaxies with imaging data alone, a useful tool in the study of galaxy evolution.