Activity in colliding galaxies

A substantial body of evidence now exists that indicates that there is a connection between the observed activity in galaxies and the apparent involvement of these active galaxies in tidal interactions with other galaxies. To investigate this phenomenon, we are studying the morphologies and environments of various interacting galaxies showing evidence of activity. In particular, we present here some preliminary results from our investigations of the claimed interaction-activity connection for a sample of colliding radio galaxies endowed with a bent radio jet morphology. We find that the timing of the jet activity is consistent with a tidal-triggering hypothesis. Our results therefore lend further support to the idea that the galactic activity observed in some interactive galaxies is in fact collision-induced.