Morphological properties of radio elliptical galaxies

A CCD imaging survey of elliptical galaxies which present radio jets is described. The photometric and morphological properties of these galaxies and their nearby companions are described by Fourier analysis of the intensity variations along a set of elliptical contours fitted to the intensity distribution. A large fraction of the sample shows evidence for interaction with close companions. By interpolation between the best-fit ellipses an elliptical galaxy model of the underlying stellar distribution is constructed and by subtraction of these models interesting morphological features such as boxy isophotes, dust lanes and emission line regions are revealed. The data analysis technique developed for this study is described. The morphological and photometric properties of the objects can be explained by gravitational interaction of galaxies in close encounters. Five objects of a complete sample of low luminosity radio galaxies are briefly discussed.