The orientations of the rotation axes of radio galaxies. I. Radio morphologies of bright elliptical galaxies.

The results of VLA observations of 47 bright elliptical galaxies from a sample of 54 galaxies for dynamical study are presented, and the structures of the extended sources are described. No evidence is found for a unique alignment of the radio axes and minor axes of the host galaxies. The distribution of misalignment angles is consistent with being uniform between 0 and 50 deg, with larger misalignments being significantly less likely. No significant correlations are found between the radio power or misalignment angle and any of the intrinsic kinematic parameters, in particular rotation velocity and central velocity dispersion.