Departures From Axisymmetric Morphology and Dynamics in Spiral Galaxies

Abstract

New H I synthesis data have been obtained for six face–on galaxies with the Very Large Array. These data and reanalyses of three additional data sets make up a sample of nine face–on galaxies analyzed for deviations from axisymmetry in morphology and dynamics. This sample represents a subsample of galaxies already analyzed for morphological symmetry properties in the R-band. Four quantitative measures of dynamical nonaxisymmetry are compared to one another and to the quantitative measures of morphological asymmetry in H I and R-band to investigate the relationships between nonaxisymmetric morphology and dynamics. We find no significant relationship between