Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 1999
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999fcph...20..383k&link_type=abstract
Fundam. Cosmic Phys., Vol. 20, No. 4, p. 383 - 475
Physics
4
Galaxy Groups: Triple Systems, Galaxy Groups: Dark Matter, Galaxy Groups: Masses, Galaxy Groups: Dynamical Evolution, Galaxy Groups: N-Body Simulations
Scientific paper
This paper reviews observational and theoretical studies over the past two decades of the structure, dynamics, and evolutionary history of triple galaxies. The authors present observational catalogs for compact triple galaxies and for wide triple galaxies. An analysis of the data permits a separation of probable physical triplets from line-of-sight optical coincidences. The authors find that virial estimates of the total mass of both compact and wide triplets may not be valid. While the compact systems are dynamically old, their sizes are comparable to the sizes of the visible stellar portions of galaxies and much less than the typical size of individual galaxy halos (100 - 200 kpc). The wide triplets are probably dynamically young and therefore far from virial equilibrium. The authors have performed numerical simulations of the dynamical evolution of the systems, which allow a statistical mass estimate without the assumption of virial equilibrium. Due to the advanced dynamical state and small size of compact triplet, mass estimates for these system are still highly uncertain. The wide triplets are more useful for mass estimates, because of their simpler "first infall" dynamical state and larger separations which encompass the halos. The authors find that wide triplets have a median mass of ≍1013 Msun and a mass-to-light ratio of ≍300 h Msun/Lsun, implying that a large amount of dark matter is present in wide triplet galaxies. A statistical analysis indicates that the contribution of galaxy pairs, triple systems, and poor galaxy groups to the total matter density of the universe may well be comparable to or even be larger than that of rich clusters of galaxies.
Byrd Gene Gilbert
Chernin Arthur D.
Karachentsev Igor D.
Valtonen Mauri J.
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