Warped disks in spiral galaxies

Galaxies were included in our study if their isophotal diameter (D25) satisfied logD25>1, and if their major-to-minor axis ratio was in the range a/b>9.5. We found that 236 out of the 325 sample galaxies (73%) had warps: 165 S-shaped (51%) and 71 U-shaped (22%).

We additionally found that the warp properties (warp angles, warp radius, and warp asymmetry) as well as the warp frequency did not depend on galaxy morphology. A quite tight anticorrelation was observed between warp radius and warp amplitude, and a positive correlation was found between warp asymmetry and warp amplitude. A detailed analysis of the relations between warp parameters and galaxy properties revealed that strong warps are mostly caused by tidal interactions, whereas weak warps are formed by a variety of mechanisms including gas accretion.