Host Galaxies of X-Shaped Radio Sources

The majority of radiation from galaxies containing active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is emitted not by the stars composing the galaxy, but from an active source at the galactic center, most likely a supermassive black hole. Of particular interest are radio galaxies, the active galaxies emitting much of their radiation at radio wavelengths. Within each radio galaxy, an AGN powers a pair of collimated jets of relativistic particles, forming a pair of giant lobes at the end of the jets and thus giving a characteristic double-lobed appearance. A particular class of radio galaxies have an ''X''-shaped morphology: in these, two pairs of lobes appear to originate from the galactic center, producing a distinctive X-shape. Two main mechanisms have been proposed to explain the X-shape morphology: one being through the merger of a binary supermassive black hole system and the second being that the radio jets are expanding into an asymmetric medium. By analyzing radio host galaxy shapes, we probe the distribution of the stellar mass to compare the differing model expectations regarding the distribution of the surrounding gas and stellar material about the AGN