A correlation between isophotal twisting and flattening in elliptical galaxies

Twisting of the isophotes in elliptical galaxies is found to be present in about 7.5% of the systems for which photometric data are available in the literature. It is found that a reverse correlation exists between the maximum apparent flattening and the greatest observed twisting in the isophotes of 54 elliptical galaxies. From a discussion of the data, it is suggested that this correlation can provide useful information on the spatial structure of these galaxies. Some geometrical interpretations are explored.