MeerKAT view of Hickson Compact Groups:I. Data description and release
Abstract
Context: Hickson Compact Groups (HCGs) are dense gravitationally-bound collections of 4-10 galaxies ideal for studying gas and star formation quenching processes. Aims: We aim to understand the transition of HCGs from possessing complex HI tidal structures (so-called phase 2 groups) to a phase where galaxies have lost most or all their HI (phase 3). We also seek to detect diffuse H i gas that was previously missed by the Very Large Array (VLA). Methods: We observed three phase 2 and three phase 3 HCGs with MeerKAT and reduced the data using the Containerized Automated Radio Astronomy Calibration (CARACal) pipeline. We produced data cubes, moment maps, integrated spectra, and compared our findings with previous VLA and Green Bank Telescope (GBT) observations. Results: Compared with previous VLA observations, MeerKAT reveals much more extended tidal features in phase 2 and some new high surface brightness features in phase 3 groups. However, no diffuse HI component was found in phase 3 groups. We also detected many surrounding galaxies for both phase 2 and phase 3 groups, most of which are normal disk galaxies. Conclusions: The difference between phase 2 and phase 3 groups is still substantial, supporting previous findings that the transition between the two phases must be abrupt.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2502.09691,
title = {MeerKAT view of Hickson Compact Groups:I. Data description and release},
author = {R. Ianjamasimanana and L. Verdes-Montenegro and A. Sorgho and K. M. Hess and M. G. Jones and J. M. Cannon and J. M. Solanes and M. E. Cluver and J. Moldón and B. Namumba and J. Román and I. Labadie-García and C. C. de la Casa and S. Borthakur and J. Wang and R. García-Benito and A. del Olmo and J. Perea and T. Wiegert and M. Yun and J. Garrido and S. Sanchez-Expósito and A. Bosma and E. Athanassoula and G. I. G. Józsa and T. H. Jarrett and C. K. Xu and O. M. Smirnov},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2502.09691},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
37 pages, 34 figures, 4 tables - Accepted for publication in A&A