On estimation of the pitch angle for spiral arms of galaxies

Abstract

The shape of the arms of spiral galaxies is usually described by logarithmic spiralswith constant pitch angles, however, some galaxies display variations of the pitch angle along their spiral arms. We propose a method of determining the pitch angle of the arms in spiral galaxies based on the window Fourier analysis of their images. This method allows us not only to infer the average pitch angle, but also to obtain its value as a function of galactocentric radius. The method is implemented in the form of freely available programs.