We find evidence for accelerated evolution in compact group galaxies from the distribution in mid-infrared colorspace of 42 galaxies from 12 Hickson Compact Groups (HCGs) compared to the the distributions of several other samples including the LVL+SINGS galaxies, interacting galaxies, and galaxies from the Coma Cluster. We find that the HCG galaxies are not uniformly distributed in colorspace, as well as quantitative evidence for a gap. Galaxies in the infall region of the Coma cluster also exhibit a non-uniform distribution and a less well defined gap, which may reflect a similarity with the compact group environment. Neither the Coma Center or interacting samples show evidence of a gap, leading us to speculate that the gap is unique to the environment of high galaxy density where gas has not been fully processed or stripped.
@article{arxiv.0908.2971,
title = {Mid-Infrared Evidence for Accelerated Evolution in Compact Group Galaxies},
author = {Lisa May Walker and Kelsey E. Johnson and Sarah C. Gallagher and John E. Hibbard and Ann E. Hornschemeier and Jane C. Charlton and Thomas H. Jarrett},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0908.2971},
year = {2010}
}
Comments
To appear in the Proceedings of the Galaxy Wars: Stellar Populations and Star Formation in Interacting Galaxies Conference