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[Abridged] Over the years, several compact group catalogues have been built using different methods, but most of them are not deep enough to go beyond the very local universe with a high level of redshift completeness. We build statistically reliable samples of compact groups to study the influence of their inner extreme environment at intermediate redshifts. We adopted the GAMA redshift survey as a parent catalogue, complemented with galaxies from the SDSS, to identify compact groups using Hickson-like criteria. We explored the parameter space to perform several identifications: we reduced the maximum galaxy separation in the line-of-sight to 500 km/s and we implemented different magnitude ranges to define membership. For comparison, we used control samples extracted from a catalogue of loose groups to contrast properties with the compact groups. We build five considerably large compact group samples, ranging from more than 400 up to ~2400 systems, and maximum redshifts from 0.2 to 0.4. The overall properties of each sample are in agreement with previous findings. Compact groups tend to have a larger fraction of quenched galaxies than control loose groups, mainly for low stellar mass galaxies in compact groups with small crossing times. In addition, ~45% of compact groups are embedded in loose galaxy systems and display the highest compactness, lowest crossing times and brightest first-ranked galaxies compared to compact groups considered non-embedded or isolated. There is almost no evolution of compact group properties with redshift. Our results confirm previous findings that postulate compact groups as one of the suitable places to study the suppression of the star formation rate in galaxies primarily due to galaxy interactions. These new samples will be valuable to deepen the analysis of these peculiar galaxy systems in a redshift regime poorly explored so far., Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, 5 tables, submitted to A&A after minor revision. Catalogues will be soon available online (they can also be requested to the authors)

We delved into the assembly pathways and environments of compact groups (CGs) of galaxies using mock catalogues generated from semi-analytical models (SAMs) on the Millennium simulation. We investigate the ability of SAMs to replicate the observed CG environments and whether CGs with different assembly histories tend to inhabit specific cosmic environments. We also analyse whether the environment or the assembly history is more important in tailoring CG properties. We find that about half of the CGs in SAMs are non-embedded systems, 40% are inhabiting loose groups or nodes of filaments, while the rest distribute evenly in filaments and voids, in agreement with observations. We observe that early-assembled CGs preferentially inhabit large galaxy systems (~ 60%), while around 30% remain non-embedded. Conversely, lately-formed CGs exhibit the opposite trend. We also obtain that lately-formed CGs have lower velocity dispersions and larger crossing times than early-formed CGs, but mainly because they are preferentially non-embedded. Those lately-formed CGs that inhabit large systems do not show the same features. Therefore, the environment plays a strong role in these properties for lately-formed CGs. Early-formed CGs are more evolved, displaying larger velocity dispersions, shorter crossing times, and more dominant first-ranked galaxies, regardless of the environment. Finally, the difference in brightness between the two brightest members of CGs is dependent only on the assembly history and not on the environment. CGs residing in diverse environments have undergone varied assembly processes, making them suitable for studying their evolution and the interplay of nature and nurture on their traits., Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Using over 3000 compact groups (CGs) of galaxies extracted from mock catalogues built from semi-analytical models of galaxy formation (SAMs), we study whether the CG assembly channel affects the z=0 properties of galaxies and their evolution. The evolution of CG galaxy properties with time is a clear function of their stellar masses. For instance, high-stellar-mass CG galaxies have lived their last 8 Gyr with little cold gas content while maintaining their reservoir of hot gas, while low-mass CG galaxies still preserve some of their cold gas content at the present but they have completely drained their hot gas reservoir. Beyond that, we find that the evolution of CG galaxies is also a function of the assembly history of the CGs: with more extreme losses of gas content, faster mass gain rates for black holes and more marked suppression of star formation as a function of cosmic time as we go from recent to early CG assembly. Thus, CGs constitute another laboratory for galaxy assembly bias, as the later assembling groups have later star formation. Our results show that classifying CGs according to their assembly channel is a way of distinguishing different paths by which galaxies transform their properties throughout their history., Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, 4 table, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Although Compact Groups of galaxies (CGs) have been envisioned as isolated extremely dense structures in the Universe, it is accepted today that many of them could be not as isolated as thought. In this work, we study Hickson-like CGs identified in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 16 to analyse these systems and their galaxies when embedded in different cosmological structures. To achieve this goal, we identify several cosmological structures where CGs can reside: Nodes of filaments, Loose Groups, Filaments and cosmic Voids. Our results indicate that 45 per cent of CGs do not reside in any of these structures, i.e., they can be considered non-embedded or isolated systems. Most of the embedded CGs are found inhabiting Loose Groups and Nodes, while there are almost no CGs residing well inside cosmic Voids. Some physical properties of CGs vary depending on the environment they inhabit. CGs in Nodes show the largest velocity dispersions, the brightest absolute magnitude of the first-ranked galaxy, and the smallest crossing times, while the opposite occurs in Non-Embedded CGs. When comparing galaxies in all the environments and galaxies in CGs, CGs show the highest fractions of red/early-type galaxy members in most of the absolute magnitudes ranges. The variation between galaxies in CGs inhabiting one or another environment is not as significant as the differences caused by belonging or not to a CG. Our results suggest a plausible scenario for galaxy evolution in CGs in which both, large-scale and local environments play essential roles., Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Compact groups of galaxies are devised as extreme environments where interactions may drive galaxy evolution. In this work, we analysed whether the luminosities of galaxies inhabiting compact groups differ from those of galaxies in loose galaxy groups. We computed the luminosity functions of galaxy populations inhabiting a new sample of 1412 Hickson-like compact groups of galaxies identified in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 16. We observed a characteristic absolute magnitude for galaxies in compact groups brighter than that observed in the field or loose galaxy systems. We also observed a deficiency of faint galaxies in compact groups in comparison with loose systems. Our analysis showed that the brightening is mainly due to galaxies inhabiting the more massive compact groups. In contrast to what is observed in loose systems where only the luminosities of Red (and Early) galaxies show a dependency with group mass, luminosities of Red and Blue (also Early and Late) galaxies in compact groups are affected similarly as a function of group virial mass. When using Hubble types, we observed that Elliptical galaxies in compact groups are the brightest galaxy population, and groups dominated by an Elliptical galaxy also display the brightest luminosities in comparison with those dominated by Spiral galaxies. Moreover, we show that the general luminosity trends can be reproduced using a mock catalogue obtained from a semi-analytical model of galaxy formation. These results suggest that the inner extreme environment in compact groups prompts a different evolutionary history for their galaxies., Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures, 5 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Many catalogues of isolated compact groups of galaxies (CGs) have been extracted using Hickson's criteria to identify isolated, dense systems of galaxies, with at least three or four galaxies concordant in magnitude and redshift. But is not clear to what extent the catalogues of CGs are complete and reliable, relative to 3D truly isolated, dense groups. Using five different semi-analytical models of galaxy formation (SAMs), we identify isolated dense groups in 3D real space, containing at least three galaxies. We then build mock redshift space galaxy catalogues and run a Hickson-like CG finder. We find that the Hickson-like algorithm in redshift space is poor at recovering 3D CGs of at least 3 galaxies, with a purity of $\sim 10\%$ and a completeness of $\sim 22\%$. Among the $\sim 90\%$ of spurious systems, typically $60\%$ are dense structures that failed the 3D isolation criteria, while the remaining $40\%$ are chance alignments of galaxies along the line of sight, nearly all of which are within regular groups, with some variation with the SAM used for the analysis. In other words, while only $10\%$ of CGs are isolated dense groups, as intended, half are dense structures embedded within larger groups, and one-third are chance alignments within larger groups. The low completeness of the extracted CG sample is mainly due to the flux limits of the selection criteria. Our results suggest that a new observational algorithm to identify compact groups in redshift space is required to obtain dense isolated galaxy systems., Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, 5 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We study the formation of over 6000 compact groups (CGs) of galaxies identified in mock redshift-space galaxy catalogues built from semi-analytical models of galaxy formation (SAMs) run on the Millennium Simulations. We select CGs of 4 members in our mock SDSS galaxy catalogues and, for each CG, we trace back in time the real-space positions of the most massive progenitors of their 4 galaxies. By analysing the evolution of the distance of the galaxy members to the centre of mass of the group, we identify 4 channels of CG formation. The classification of these assembly channels is performed with an automatic recipe inferred from a preliminary visual inspection and based on the orbit of the galaxy with the fewest number of orbits. Most CGs show late assembly, with the last galaxy arriving on its first or second passage, while only 10-20 per cent form by the gradual contraction of their orbits by dynamical friction, and only a few per cent forming early with little subsequent contraction. However, a SAM from a higher resolution simulation leads to earlier assembly. Assembly histories of CGs also depend on cosmological parameters. At similar resolution, CGs assemble later in SAMs built on parent cosmological simulations of high density parameter. Several observed properties of mock CGs correlate with their assembly history: early-assembling CGs are smaller, with shorter crossing times, and greater magnitude gaps between their brightest two members, and their brightest galaxies have smaller spatial offsets and are more passive., Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Compact groups (CGs) of galaxies are defined as isolated and dense galaxy systems that appear to be a unique site of multiple galaxy interactions. Semi-analytical models of galaxy formation (SAMs) are a prime tool to understand CGs. We investigate how the frequency and the three-dimensional nature of CGs depends on the SAM and its underlying cosmological parameters. Extracting 9 lightcones of galaxies from 5 different SAMs and selecting CGs as in observed samples, we find that the frequency and nature of CGs depends strongly on the cosmological parameters. Moving from the WMAP1 to the WMAP7 and Planck cosmologies (increasing density of the Universe and decreasing normalisation of the power spectrum), the space density of CGs is decreased by a factor 2.5, while the fraction of CGs that are physically dense falls from 50 to 35 percent. The lower $\sigma_8$ leads to fewer dense groups, while the higher $\Omega_{\rm m}$ causes more chance alignments. However, with increased mass and spatial resolution, the fraction of CGs that are physically dense is pushed back up to 50 percent. The intrinsic differences in the SAM recipes also lead to differences in the frequency and nature of CGs, particularly those related to how SAMs treat orphan galaxies. We find no dependence of CG properties on the flux limit of the mock catalogues nor on the waveband in which galaxies are selected. One should thus be cautious when interpreting a particular SAM for the frequency and nature of CGs., Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS

In this work we present an algorithm to identify compact groups (CGs) that closely follows Hickson's original aim and that improves the completeness of the samples of compact groups obtained from redshift surveys. Instead of identifying CGs in projection first and then checking a velocity concordance criterion, we identify them directly in redshift space using Hickson-like criteria. The methodology was tested on a mock lightcone of galaxies built from the outputs of a recent semi-analytic model of galaxy formation run on top of the Millennium Simulation I after scaling to represent the first-year Planck cosmology. The new algorithm identifies nearly twice as many CGs, no longer missing CGs that failed the isolation criterion because of velocity outliers lying in the isolation annulus. The new CG sample picks up lower surface brightness groups, which are both looser and with fainter brightest galaxies, missed by the classic method. A new catalogue of compact groups from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey is the natural corollary of this study. The publicly available sample comprises $462$ observational groups with four or more galaxy members, of which $406$ clearly fulfil all the compact group requirements: compactness, isolation, and velocity concordance of all of their members. The remaining $56$ groups need further redshift information of potentially contaminating sources. This constitutes the largest sample of groups that strictly satisfy all the Hickson's criteria in a survey with available spectroscopic information., Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, 8 tables. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Tables D1 and D2 will be available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/ or https://iate.oac.uncor.edu/index.php/alcance-publico/catalogos/

Historically, compact group catalogues vary not only in their identification algorithms and selection functions, but also in their photometric bands. Differences between compact group catalogues have been reported. However, it is difficult to assess the impact of the photometric band in these differences given the variety of identification algorithms. We used the mock lightcone built by Henriques et al. (2012) to identify and compare compact groups in three different photometric bands: $K$, $r$, and $u$. We applied the same selection functions in the three bands, and found that compact groups in the u-band look the smallest in projection, the difference between the two brightest galaxies is the largest in the K-band, while compact groups in the r-band present the lowest compactness. We also investigated the differences between samples when galaxies are selected only in one particular band (pure compact groups) and those that exist regardless the band in which galaxies were observed (common compact groups). We found that the differences between the total samples are magnified, but also some others arise: pure-r compact groups are the largest in projection; pure-u compact groups have the brightest first ranked galaxies, and the most similar two first ranked galaxies; pure-K compact groups have the highest compactness and the most different two first ranked galaxies; and common compact groups show the largest percentage of physically dense groups. Therefore, without a careful selection and identification of the samples, the characteristic features of group properties in a particular photometric band could be overshadowed., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, 5 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We investigate the evolution of bright and faint galaxies in fossil and non-fossil groups. We used mock galaxies constructed based on the Millennium run simulation II. We identified fossil groups at redshift zero according to two different selection criteria, and then built reliable control samples of non-fossil groups that reproduce the fossil virial mass and assembly time distributions. The faint galaxies were defined as having r-band absolute magnitudes in the range [-16,-11]. We analysed the properties of the bright and faint galaxies in fossil and non-fossil groups during the past 8 Gyr. We observed that the brightest galaxy in fossil groups is typically brighter and more massive than their counterparts in control groups. Fossil groups developed their large magnitude gap between the brightest galaxies around 3.5 Gyr ago. The brightest galaxy stellar masses of all groups show a notorious increment at that time. By analysing the behaviour of the magnitude gap between the first and the second, third, and fourth ranked galaxies, we found that at earlier times, fossil groups comprised two large brightest galaxies with similar magnitudes surrounded by much fainter galaxies, while in control groups these magnitude gaps were never as large as in fossils. At early times, fossil groups in the faint population were denser than non-fossil groups, then this trend reversed, and finally they became similar at the present day. The mean number of faint galaxies in non-fossil systems increases in an almost constant rate towards later times, while this number in fossil groups reaches a plateau at $z\sim0.6$ that lasts $\sim 2$ Gyr, and then starts growing again more rapidly. The formation of fossil groups is defined at the very beginning of the groups according to their galaxy luminosity sampling, which could be determined by their merging rate at early times., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

The purpose of this work is to perform a statistical analysis of the location of compact groups in the Universe from observational and semi-analytical points of view. We used the velocity-filtered compact group sample extracted from the Two Micron All Sky Survey for our analysis. We also used a new sample of galaxy groups identified in the 2M++ galaxy redshift catalogue as tracers of the large-scale structure. We defined a procedure to search in redshift space for compact groups that can be considered embedded in other overdense systems and applied this criterion to several possible combinations of different compact and galaxy group subsamples. We also performed similar analyses for simulated compact and galaxy groups identified in a 2M++ mock galaxy catalogue constructed from the Millennium Run Simulation I plus a semi-analytical model of galaxy formation. We observed that only $\sim27\%$ of the compact groups can be considered to be embedded in larger overdense systems, that is, most of the compact groups are more likely to be isolated systems. The embedded compact groups show statistically smaller sizes and brighter surface brightnesses than non-embedded systems. No evidence was found that embedded compact groups are more likely to inhabit galaxy groups with a given virial mass or with a particular dynamical state. We found very similar results when the analysis was performed using mock compact and galaxy groups. Based on the semi-analytical studies, we predict that $70\%$ of the embedded compact groups probably are 3D physically dense systems. Finally, real space information allowed us to reveal the bimodal behaviour of the distribution of 3D minimum distances between compact and galaxy groups. The location of compact groups should be carefully taken into account when comparing properties of galaxies in environments that are a priori different., Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, 8 tables. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Tables B1 and B2 will only be available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/

The goal of this work is to understand whether the extreme environment of compact groups can affect the distribution and abundance of faint galaxies around them. We performed an analysis of the faint galaxy population in the vicinity of compact groups and normal groups. We built a light-cone mock galaxy catalogue constructed from the Millennium Run Simulation II plus a semi-analytical model of galaxy formation. We identified a sample of compact groups in the mock catalogue as well as a control sample of normal galaxy groups and computed the projected number density profiles of faint galaxies around the first- and the second-ranked galaxies. We also compared the profiles obtained from the semi-analytical galaxies in compact groups with those obtained from observational data. In addition, we investigated whether the ranking or the luminosity of a galaxy is the most important parameter in the determination of the centre around which the clustering of faint galaxies occurs. There is no particular influence of the extreme compact group environment on the number of faint galaxies in such groups compared to control groups. When selecting normal groups with separations between the 1st and 2nd ranked galaxies similar to what is observed in compact groups, the faint galaxy projected number density profiles in compact groups and normal groups are similar in shape and height. We observed a similar behaviour of the population of faint galaxies in observations and simulations in the regions closer to the 1st and 2nd ranked galaxies. Finally, we find that the projected density of faint galaxies is higher around luminous galaxies,regardless of the ranking in the compact group. The semi-analytical approach shows that compact groups and their surroundings do not represent a hostile enough environment to make faint galaxies to behave differently than in normal groups., Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

The Javalambre-Physics of the Accelerated Universe Astrophysical Survey (J-PAS) is a narrow band, very wide field Cosmological Survey to be carried out from the Javalambre Observatory in Spain with a purpose-built, dedicated 2.5m telescope and a 4.7 sq.deg. camera with 1.2Gpix. Starting in late 2015, J-PAS will observe 8500sq.deg. of Northern Sky and measure $0.003(1+z)$ photo-z for $9\times10^7$ LRG and ELG galaxies plus several million QSOs, sampling an effective volume of $\sim 14$ Gpc$^3$ up to $z=1.3$ and becoming the first radial BAO experiment to reach Stage IV. J-PAS will detect $7\times 10^5$ galaxy clusters and groups, setting constrains on Dark Energy which rival those obtained from its BAO measurements. Thanks to the superb characteristics of the site (seeing ~0.7 arcsec), J-PAS is expected to obtain a deep, sub-arcsec image of the Northern sky, which combined with its unique photo-z precision will produce one of the most powerful cosmological lensing surveys before the arrival of Euclid. J-PAS unprecedented spectral time domain information will enable a self-contained SN survey that, without the need for external spectroscopic follow-up, will detect, classify and measure $\sigma_z\sim 0.5\%$ redshifts for $\sim 4000$ SNeIa and $\sim 900$ core-collapse SNe. The key to the J-PAS potential is its innovative approach: a contiguous system of 54 filters with $145\AA$ width, placed $100\AA$ apart over a multi-degree FoV is a powerful "redshift machine", with the survey speed of a 4000 multiplexing low resolution spectrograph, but many times cheaper and much faster to build. The J-PAS camera is equivalent to a 4.7 sq.deg. "IFU" and it will produce a time-resolved, 3D image of the Northern Sky with a very wide range of Astrophysical applications in Galaxy Evolution, the nearby Universe and the study of resolved stellar populations., Comment: 215 pages, 70 figures. J-PAS "Red Book", containing a description of the technical aspects of the Survey and its main scientific goals

We have performed a detailed analysis of the ability of the friends-of-friends algorithm in identifying real galaxy systems in deep surveys such as the future Javalambre Physics of the Accelerating Universe Astrophysical Survey. Our approach is two-fold, i.e., assessing the reliability of the algorithm in both real and redshift space. In the latter, our intention is also to determine the degree of accuracy that could be achieved when using spectroscopic or photometric redshift determinations as a distance indicator. We have built a light-cone mock catalogue using synthetic galaxies constructed from the Millennium Run Simulation I plus a semi-analytical model of galaxy formation. We have explored different ways to define the proper linking length parameters of the algorithm in order to perform an identification of galaxy groups as suitable as possible in each case. We find that, when identifying systems in redshift space using spectroscopic information, the linking lengths should take into account the variation of the luminosity function with redshift as well as the linear redshift dependence of the radial fiducial velocity in the line of sight direction. When testing purity and completeness of the group samples, we find that the best resulting group sample reaches values of 40% and 70% of systems with high levels of purity and completeness, respectively, when using spectroscopic information. When identifying systems using photometric redshifts, we adopted a probabilistic approach to link galaxies in the line of sight direction. Our result suggests that it is possible to identify a sample of groups with less than 40% false identification at the same time as we recover around 60% of the true groups. This modified version of the algorithm can be applied to deep surveys provided that the linking lengths are selected appropriately for the science to be done with the data., Comment: 20 pages, 17 figures, 8 tables, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

We analyse the dependence of the luminosity function of galaxies in groups (LF) on group dynamical state. We use the Gaussianity of the velocity distribution of galaxy members as a measurement of the dynamical equilibrium of groups identified in the SDSS Data Release 7 by Zandivarez & Martinez. We apply the Anderson-Darling goodness-of-fit test to distinguish between groups according to whether they have Gaussian or Non-Gaussian velocity distributions, i.e., whether they are relaxed or not. For these two subsamples, we compute the $^{0.1}r-$band LF as a function of group virial mass and group total luminosity. For massive groups, ${\mathcal M}>5 \times 10^{13} \ M_{\odot} \ h^{-1}$, we find statistically significant differences between the LF of the two subsamples: the LF of groups that have Gaussian velocity distributions have a brighter characteristic absolute magnitude ($\sim0.3$ mag) and a steeper faint end slope ($\sim0.25$). We detect a similar effect when comparing the LF of bright ($M^{group}_{^{0.1}r}-5\log(h)<-23.5$) Gaussian and Non-Gaussian groups. Our results indicate that, for massive/luminous groups, the dynamical state of the system is directly related with the luminosity of its galaxy members., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, accepted in MNRAS letters

Fossil systems are defined to be X-ray bright galaxy groups with a 2-magnitude difference between their two brightest galaxies within half the projected virial radius,and represent an interesting extreme of the population of galaxy agglomerations.However,the physical conditions and processes leading to their formation are still poorly constrained.We compare the outskirts of fossil systems with that of normal groups to understand whether environmental conditions play a significant role in their formation.We study galaxy groups in both,numerical simulations and observations.We use a variety of statistical tools including the spatial cross-correlation function and the local density parameter \Delta_5 to probe differences in the density and structure of the environments of normal and fossil systems in the Millennium simulation.We find that the number density of galaxies surrounding fossil systems evolves from greater than that observed around normal systems at z=0.69, to lower than the normal systems by z=0.Both fossil and normal systems exhibit an increment in their otherwise radially declining local density measure (\Delta_5) at distances of order 2.5r_{vir} from the system centre.We show that this increment is more noticeable for fossil systems than normal systems and demonstrate that this difference is linked to the earlier formation epoch of fossil groups.Despite the importance of the assembly time, we show that the environment is different for fossil and non-fossil systems with similar masses and formation times along their evolution.We also confirm that the physical characteristics identified in the Millennium simulation can also be detected in SDSS observations.Our results confirm the commonly held belief that fossil systems assembled earlier than normal systems but also show that the surroundings of fossil groups could be responsible for the formation of their large magnitude gap., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, 1 table. Replaced after language edition

We perform an analysis of the luminosities of galaxies in groups in the SDSS DR7. We analyse the luminosity function (LF) as a function of group mass for different photometric bands, galaxy populations, galaxy positions within the groups, and the group surrounding large scale density. We find that M* brightens and alpha becomes steeper as a function of mass in all SDSS photometric bands, in agreement with previous results. From the analysis of different galaxy populations, we observe that different methods to split galaxy populations, based on the concentration index or the colour-magnitude diagram, produce quite different behaviours in the luminosity trends, mainly for alpha. These discrepancies and the trends with mass mentioned above are explained when analysing the LF of galaxies classified simultaneously according to their concentrations and colours. We find that only the red spheroids have a LF that strongly depends on group mass. Late type galaxies, whether blue or red, have luminosity functions that do not depend on group mass. The intrinsic change in the LF of spheroids and the varying number contributions of the different types explain all the observed trends with group mass. On the other hand, dividing the galaxy members in the inner and outer regions of the groups do not introduce a significant difference in the Schechter parameter trends, except for the characteristic absolute magnitude in the high group virial mass range (M>1x10^13 M_sun/h) which is an indication of luminosity segregation in massive groups. Finally, we also analyse the possible influence of the large scale surrounding environment on the LF. We find that galaxies inhabiting groups at low density regions experience more pronounced variations on the Schechter parameters as a function of groups mass, while galaxies in groups at high density regions show an almost constant behaviour., Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, final version published in MNRAS

We search for the most suitable set of cosmological parameters that describes the observable universe. The search includes the possibility of quintessential flat universes, i.e., the analysis is restricted to the determination of the dimensionless matter density and the quintessential parameters, $\Omega_{\rm M}$ and $w_{\rm Q}$, respectively. Our study is focused on comparing the position of features at large scales in the density fluctuation field at different redshifts by analysing the evolution of the quasar two-point correlation function. We trace the density field fluctuations at large scales using a large and homogeneous sample of quasars ($\sim$ 38000 objects with 0.3 $\lesssim$ z $\le$ 2.4 and a median $z=1.45$) drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release Six. The analysis relies on the assumption that, in the linear regime, the length scale of a particular feature should remain fixed at different times of the universe for the proper cosmological model. Our study does not assume any particular comoving length scale at which a feature should be found, but intends to perform a comparison for a wide range of scales instead. This is done by quantifying the amount of overlap among the quasar correlation functions at different times using a cross-correlation technique. The most likely cosmological model is $\Omega_{\rm M}=0.21\pm 0.02$ and $w_{\rm Q}=-0.93\pm0.04$, in agreement with previous studies. These constraints are the result of a good overall agreement of the correlation function at different redshifts over scales $\sim 100-300\mpc$. Under the assumption of a flat cosmological model, our results indicate that we are living in a low density universe with a quintessential parameter greater than the one corresponding to a cosmological constant., Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

Using galaxy groups identified in the Fourth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), we compute the luminosity function for several subsamples of galaxies in groups. In all cases, the luminosity functions are well described by Schechter functions, down to the faintest magnitudes we probe, $M_{\rb}-5\log(h)\sim-16$. For the general luminosity function of galaxies in groups in the five SDSS bands, we observe that the characteristic magnitude is brighter in $\sim 0.5$ magnitudes compared to those obtained for field galaxies by Blanton et al.. Even when the observed faint end slope is steeper in galaxy groups, it is statistically comparable with the field value. We analyze the dependence of the galaxy luminosity function with system masses finding two clear trends: a continuous brightening of the characteristic magnitude and a steepening of the faint end slope as mass increases. The results in $\gb$, $\rb$, $\ib$ and $\zb$ bands show the same behavior. Using the $u-r$ color to split the galaxy sample into red and blue galaxies, we show that the changes observed as a function of the system mass are mainly seen in the red, passively evolving, galaxy population, while the luminosities of blue galaxies remain almost unchanged with mass. Finally, we observe that groups having an important luminosity difference between the two brightest galaxies of a system show a steeper faint end slope than the other groups. Our results can be interpreted in terms of galaxy mergers as the main driving force behind galaxy evolution in groups., Comment: 29 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Astrophysical Journal

We have analysed the distribution of galaxies in groups identified in the largest redshift surveys at the present: the final release of the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey and the first release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Our work comprises the study of the galaxy density profiles and the fraction of galaxies per spectral type as a function of the group-centric distance. We have calculated the projected galaxy density profiles of galaxy groups using composite samples in order to increase the statistical significance of the results. Special cares have been taken in order to avoid possible biases in the group identification and the construction of the projected galaxy density profile estimator. The results show that the projected galaxy density profiles obtained for both redshift surveys are in agreement with a projected Navarro, Frenk & White predictions in the range $0.15< r/r_{200} < 1$, whereas a good fit for the measured profiles in the whole range of $r/r_{200}$ is given by a projected King profile. We have adopted a generalized King profile to fit the measured projected density profiles per spectral type. In order to infer the 3-D galaxy density profiles, we deproject the 2-D density profiles using a deprojection method similar to the developed by Allen & Fabian. From 2-D and 3-D galaxy density profiles we have estimated the corresponding galaxy fractions per spectral type. The 2-D fraction of galaxies computed using the projected profiles show a similar segregation of galaxy spectral types as the obtained by Dom\'{\i}nguez et al. for groups in the early data release of the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey. As expected, the trends obtained for the 3-D galaxy fractions show steeper slopes than the observed in the 2-D fractions., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal. 34 pages,12 figures

We present a new sample of galaxy groups identified in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 3. Following previous works we use the well tested friend-of-friend algorithm developed by Huchra & Geller which take into account the number density variation due to the apparent magnitude limit of the galaxy catalog. To improve the identification we implement a procedure to avoid the artificial merging of small systems in high density regions and then apply an iterative method to recompute the group centers position. As a result we obtain a new catalog with 10864 galaxy groups with at least four members. The final group sample has a mean redshift of 0.1 and a median velocity dispersion of $230 km s^{-1}$., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Submitted to ApJ. Files containing galaxy groups data can be fount at http://www.iate.oac.uncor.edu/SDSSDR3GG/

This work analyses the properties of groups of galaxies in the surroundings of clusters. On the basis of a very large public Virgo Consortium Simulation, we identified systems of galaxies in a wide range of masses. Systems with masses greater than $ M_{cut}= 4 \times 10^{14} M_{\odot} h^{-1} $ are considered "host", whereas smaller systems are taken as groups. Our results show that groups properties are affected by the proximity of massive hosts. Physical properties such as velocity dispersion, internal energy ($E$) and virial radius, show an increment, whereas the mean density decreases as the host-group distance is smaller. By analysing groups with different properties, we find that the low mass and the weakly bounded ($E > 0$) subsamples, are strongly affected by the presence of the host; on the other hand, massive groups and groups with $E < 0$ do not show dependence on the host-group distance. Using a sample of groups identified in the final version of the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey, we find a very similar velocity dispersion behaviour in the observational data compared to results in the simulation. We also study the dependence of the groups velocity dispersion on the host masses in both, observations and simulation; finding that the larger is the host mass the higher is the effect on its vicinity., Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We use the 2dF Galaxy Group Catalogue constructed by Merch\'an & Zandivarez to study the large scale structure of the Universe traced by galaxy groups. We concentrate on the computation of the power spectrum and the two point correlation function. The resulting group power spectrum shows a similar shape to the galaxy power spectrum obtained from the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey by Percival et al., but with a higher amplitude quantified by a relative bias in redshift space of $b_s(k) \sim 1.5$ . The group two point correlation function for the total sample is well described by a power law with correlation length $s_0=8.9 \pm 0.3 \mpc$ and slope $\gamma=-1.6 \pm 0.1$ on scales $s < 20 \mpc$. In order to study the dependence of the clustering properties on group mass we split the catalogue in four subsamples defined by different ranges of group virial masses. These computations allow a fair estimate of the relation described by the correlation length $s_0$ and the mean intergroup separation $d_c$ for galaxy systems of low mass. We also extend our study to the redshift space distortions of galaxy groups, where we find that the anisotropies in the clustering pattern of the 2dF group catalogue are consistent with gravitational instability, with a flattening of the redshift-space correlation function contours in the direction of the line of sight., Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, resubmitted to MNRAS after revision

A comprehensive study on compactness has been carried out on the 2dF Galaxy Group Catalogue constructed by Merch\'an & Zandivarez. The compactness indexes defined in this work take into account different geometrical constraints in order to explore a wide range of possibilities. Our results show that there is no clear distinction between groups with high and low level of compactness when considering particular properties as the radial velocity dispersion, the relative fraction of galaxies per spectral type and luminosity functions of their galaxy members. Studying the trend of the fraction of galaxies per spectral type as a function of the dimensionless crossing time some signs of dynamical evolution are observed. From the comparison with previous works on compactness we realize that special care should be taken into account for some compactness criteria definitions in order to avoid possible biases in the identification., Comment: 11 pages, 14 figures, resubmitted to MNRAS after minor revision

Several statistics are applied to groups and galaxies in groups in the Two degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey. Firstly we estimate the luminosity functions for different subsets of galaxies in groups. The results are well fitted by a Schechter function with parameters $M^{\ast}-5\log(h)=-19.90 \pm 0.03$ and $\alpha=-1.13\pm0.02$ for all galaxies in groups, which is quite consistent with the results by Norberg et al. for field galaxies. When considering the four different spectral types defined by Madgwick et al. we find that the characteristic magnitude is typically brighter than in the field. We also observe a steeper value, $\alpha=-0.76\pm 0.03$, of the faint end slope for low star-forming galaxies when compared with the corresponding field value. This steepening is more conspicuous, $\alpha=-1.10\pm 0.06$, for those galaxies in more massive groups (${\mathcal M} \gsim 10^{14} h^{-1} M_{\odot}$) than the obtained in the lower mass subset, $\alpha=-0.71\pm 0.04$ (${\mathcal M}<10^{14} h^{-1} M_{\odot}$). Secondly, we compute group total luminosities using Moore, Frenk & White prescriptions. We define a flux-limited group sample using a new statistical tool developed by Rauzy. The resulting group sample is used to determine the group luminosity function finding a good agreement with previous determinations and semianalytical models. Finally, the group mass function for the flux-limited sample is derived. An excellent agreement is obtained when comparing our determination with analytical predictions over two orders of magnitude in mass., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, resubmitted to MNRAS after minor revision, 1 corrected figure and corrected typos

The behaviour of the relative fraction of galaxies with different spectral types in groups is analysed as a function of projected local galaxy density and the group-centric distance. The group sample was taken from the 2dF Group Galaxy Calatogue constructed by Merch\'an & Zandivarez. Our group sample was constrained to have a homogeneous virial mass distribution with redshift. Galaxies belonging to this group sample were selected in order to minimize possible biases such as preferential selection of high luminosity objects. We find a clear distinction between high virial mass groups ($M_V\gsim 10^{13.5} M_{\odot}$) and the less massive ones. While the massive groups show a significant dependence of the relative fraction of low star formation galaxies on local galaxy density and group-centric radius,groups with lower masses show no significant trends. We also cross-correlate our group subsample with the previously identified clusters finding that this sample shows a very similar behaviour as observed in the high virial mass group subsample., Comment: 3 figures replaced, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We estimate the fraction of star forming galaxies in a catalogue of groups, constructed from the 2dF galaxy redshift survey by Merch\'an & Zandivarez. We use the $\eta$ spectral type parameter of galaxies and subdivide the sample of galaxies in groups into four types depending on the values of the $\eta$ parameter following Madgwick et al. We obtain a strong correlation between the relative fraction of galaxies with high star formation and the parent group virial mass. We find that even in the environment of groups with low virial mass $M \sim 10^{13} M_{\odot}$ the star formation of their member galaxies is significantly suppressed. The relation between the fraction of early-type galaxies and the group virial mass obeys a simple power law spanning over three orders of magnitude in virial mass. Our results show quantitatively the way that the presence of galaxies with high star formation rates is inhibited in massive galaxy systems., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS Pink Pages 3 figures

We construct a galaxy groups catalogue from the public 100K data release of the 2dF galaxy redshift survey. The group identification is carried out using a slightly modified version of the group finding algorithm developed by Huchra & Geller. Several tests using mock catalogues allow us to find the optimal conditions to increase the reliability of the final group sample. A minimum number of 4 members, an outer number density enhancement of 80 and a linking radial cutoff of $200 km sec^{-1}$, are the best obtained values from the analysis. Using these parameters, approximately 90% of groups identified in real space have a redshift space counterpart. On the other hand the level of contamination in redshift space reaches to 30 % including a $\sim 6%$ of artificial groups and $\sim 24%$ of groups associated with binaries or triplets in real space. The final sample comprise 2209 galaxy groups covering the sky region described by Colless et al. spanning over the redshift range of $0.003 \leq z \leq 0.25$ with a mean redshift of 0.1., Comment: Accepted for publication in the MNRAS. 8 figures 8 pages

We compute the redshift space power spectrum of two X-ray cluster samples: the X-ray Brightest Abell Cluster Sample (XBACS) and the Brightest Cluster Sample (BCS) using the method developed by Feldman, Kaiser & Peacock. The power spectrums derived for these samples are in agreement with determinations of other optical and X-ray cluster samples. For XBACS we find the largest power spectrum amplitude expected given the high richness of this sample ($R \ge 2$). In the range $0.05 \uk < k < 0.4 \uk$ the power spectrum shows a power law behavior $P(k)\propto k^{n}$ with an index $n\simeq-1.2$. In a similar range $0.04 \uk < k < 0.3 \uk $ BCS power spectrum has a smaller amplitude with index $n\simeq-1.0$. We do not find significant evidence for a peak at $k \simeq 0.05 \uk$ suggesting that claims such of feature detections in some cluster samples could relay on artificial inhomogeneities of the data. We compare our results with power spectrum predictions derived by Moscardini et al. within current cosmological models (LCDM and OCDM). For XBACS we find that both models underestimate the amplitude of the power spectrum but for BCS there is reasonably good agreement at $k\gsim 0.03 \uk$ for both models., Comment: 9 pages (LateX, mn.sty), 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS