Abstract
A photometric for quantifying deviations from axisymmetry in optical images of disk galaxies is applied to a sample of 32 face-on and nearly face-on spirals. The involves comparing the relative fluxes contained within trapezoidal arranged symmetrically about the galaxy center of light, excluding the bulge and/or barred regions. Such a has several advantages over others, especially when quantifying asymmetry in flocculent galaxies. Specifically, the averaging of large regions improves the signal-to-noise in the measurements; the is not strongly affected by the presence of spiral arms; and it identifies the kinds of asymmetry that are likely to be dynamically important. Application of this method of sectors to R-band images of 32 disk galaxies indicates that about 30% of spirals show deviations from axisymmetry at the 5 σ level.
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