Katherine Kudla ’24
The Baryonic Tully-Fisher Relation for Galaxies with Supernova Distances
Katherine Kudla ’24, Physics major
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Joseph Ribaudo, Engineering and Physics
The baryonic Tully-Fisher relation is an empirical scaling relation between the baryonic mass of a disk galaxy and its rotational velocity. One of the primary sources of scatter in the current template BTFR comes from galaxy distances, used to derive masses. To minimize distance uncertainties, we construct the BTFR from type Ia supernova host galaxies, such that well-constrained, redshift-independent distances have been determined. Upon observing each of our sample galaxies through Green Bank Observatory, we can extract from resulting HI spectra their HI content, velocities, widths, and other defining characteristics. This data can then be combined with data on supernova hosts observed in prior studies to form a new and more correlated template BTFR.
Oral Presentation: Tuesday, April 25 at 12:54 p.m.
