Warps and correlations with intrinsic parameters of galaxies in the visible and radio

¹ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, 38205 La Laguna, Spain
² Astronomisches Institut der Universität Basel, Venusstrasse 7, Binningen, Switzerland
³ Departamento de Física Teórica y del Cosmos, University of Granada, Avd. Fuentenueva SN., 18002 Granada, Spain

Corresponding author: N. Castro-Rodríguez, ncastro@astro.unibas.ch

Received: 15 April 2002
Accepted: 30 May 2002

Abstract

From a comparison of the different parameters of warped galaxies in the radio, and especially in the visible, we find that: a) No large galaxy (large mass or radius) has been found to have high amplitude in the warp, and there is no correlation of size/mass with the degree of asymmetry of the warp. b) The disc density and the ratio of dark to luminous mass show an opposing trend: smaller values give more asymmetric warps in the inner radii (optical warps) but show no correlation with the amplitude of the warp; however, in the external radii is there no correlation with asymmetry. c) A third anticorrelation appears in a comparison of the amplitude and degree of asymmetry in the warped galaxies. Hence, it seems that very massive dark matter haloes have nothing to do with the formation of warps but only with the degree of symmetry in the inner radii, and are unrelated to the warp shape for the outermost radii. Denser discs show the same dependence.