On the Relation Between Symmetry of Radio Galaxies and Their Physical Parameters

Abstract

Gravity as a fundamental force plays a dominant role in the formation and evolution of cosmic objects and leaves its effect in the emergence of symmetric and asymmetric structures. Thus, analyzing the symmetry criteria allows us to uncover mechanisms behind the gravity interaction and understand the underlying physical processes that contribute to the formation of large-scale structures such as galaxies. We use a segmentation process using intensity thresholding and the k-means clustering algorithm to analyze radio galaxy images. We employ a symmetry criterion and explore the relation between morphological symmetry in radio maps and host galaxy properties. Optical properties (stellar mass, black hole mass, optical size (R ₅₀), concentration, stellar mass surface density (μ ₅₀), and stellar age) and radio properties (radio flux density, radio luminosity, and radio size) are considered. We found that there is a correlation between symmetry and radio size, indicating larger radio sources have smaller symmetry indices. Therefore, size of radio sources should be considered in any investigation of symmetry. Weak correlations are also observed with other properties, such as R ₅₀ for FRI galaxies and stellar age. We compare the symmetry differences between FRI and FRII radio galaxies. FRII galaxies show higher symmetry in 1.4 GHz and 150 MHz maps. Investigating the influence of radio source sizes, we discovered that this result is independent of the sizes of radio sources. These findings contribute to our understanding of the morphological properties and analyses of radio galaxies.