Bibcode
Gutiérrez, C. M.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 737, Issue 1, article id. L21, 6 pp. (2011).
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8
2011
Citations
2
Refereed citations
1
Description
We present photometric and spectroscopic observations of the members of
three previously cataloged compact group (CG) candidates at redshifts z
> 0.3. These confirm spectroscopic redshifts compatible with being
gravitationally bound structures at redshifts 0.3112, 0.3848, and
0.3643, respectively, and then they are the most distant CGs known with
spectroscopic confirmation for all their members. The morphological and
spectroscopic properties of all their galaxies indicate early types
dominated by an old population of stars, with little star formation or
nuclear activity. Most of the physical properties derived for the three
groups are quite similar to the average properties of CGs at lower
redshifts. In particular, from the velocities and positions of the
respective members of each CG, we estimate short dynamic times. These
leave open the questions of identifying the mechanism for forming CGs
continuously and the nature of the final stages of these structures.