AAO Colloquium.


Thursday 3 July 2003

3:30pm AAO Conference Room

Compact Galaxy Groups: Interaction-induced Galaxy Evolution

Sonia Giovanna Temporin, University of Innsbruck

The high densities and low velocity dispersions that characterize compact galaxy groups (CGs) make interaction-induced galaxy evolution particularly effective in these environments. Especially favoured are merging phenomena and related processes, including the only example of present-day galaxy formation, the so-called tidal dwarf galaxies (TDGs) formed out of interaction debris in tidal tails. CG evolution is thought to lead to a final coalescence into field elliptical galaxies, possibly surrounded by a dwarf galaxy population. I will present recent results about interaction related phenomena within a few galaxy groups, some of which were previously uncatalogued, and span a wide range in the CG evolutionary sequence.