Date of Graduation

12-2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Space & Planetary Sciences (MS)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Space & Planetary Sciences

Advisor/Mentor

Julia Kennefick

Committee Member

Paul M. Thibado

Second Committee Member

Claud H. Sandberg Lacy

Third Committee Member

Larry Roe

Keywords

Pure sciences, Agn, Black hole, Broad line, Mgii, Pitch angle, Spiral galaxy

Abstract

As we continue to investigate and ponder the heavens, we have come to realize the presence of highly energetic gravitational wells at the center of all galaxies. These supermassive black holes at a galaxies nucleus formed in the company of the other features making up the galaxy, particularly spiral arms. With nearby galaxies showing a relationship between the spiral arm pitch angle and that central mass, here we push that relationship out to distances of redshift one. With three galaxies at this distance we find that they also hold to the same relationship of tighter spiral arms corresponding to more massive central black holes. We find that these three galaxies near a redshift of one also fit the equation log M/M⊙ = (8.21 ± 0.16) − (0.062 ± 0.009)P given by Berrier et al. (2013) for nearby spiral galaxies. Further investigation of higher signal to noise spectroscopic observations will increase this confidence and demonstrate the robustness of the M − P relationship at greater distances.

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