Identification of Compact Groups of Galaxies in IllustrisTNG300

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Yoo, Seungwu, Sohn, Jubee
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866918491002503168
author Yoo, Seungwu
Sohn, Jubee
author_facet Yoo, Seungwu
Sohn, Jubee
contents We identify compact groups of galaxies (CGs) in the IllustrisTNG-300 simulation using a Friends-of-Friends (FoF) algorithm. Our approach is designed to be comparable to systematic CG searches based on spectroscopic surveys, while avoiding the conventional Hickson selection criteria, which can bias samples toward relatively low-density environments. We construct two CG catalogs: one based on a three-dimensional distance linking length of 73 kpc (i.e., $50~h^{-1}$ kpc), and another based on projected and radial linking lengths of 73 kpc and $1000~\rm km~s^{-1}$. We refer to these as the position-position-position (PPP) and position-position-velocity (PPV) CG catalogs, respectively. The PPV catalog provides a direct analog to observed CG samples. At $z = 0$ in TNG300, we identify 383 PPP CGs and 1666 PPV CGs. A large fraction ($\sim 80\%$) of PPV CGs are not physically compact systems but are contaminated by line-of-sight interlopers. We demonstrate that the scaling relation between total group stellar mass and velocity dispersion is an effective diagnostic for identifying false positives with line-of-sight interlopers. We further examine the large-scale environments of CGs and show that they reside in a wide range of densities, including the central regions of galaxy clusters. These CG catalogs provide a robust foundation for studying the formation and evolution of CGs in cosmological simulations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_08364
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Identification of Compact Groups of Galaxies in IllustrisTNG300
Yoo, Seungwu
Sohn, Jubee
Astrophysics of Galaxies
We identify compact groups of galaxies (CGs) in the IllustrisTNG-300 simulation using a Friends-of-Friends (FoF) algorithm. Our approach is designed to be comparable to systematic CG searches based on spectroscopic surveys, while avoiding the conventional Hickson selection criteria, which can bias samples toward relatively low-density environments. We construct two CG catalogs: one based on a three-dimensional distance linking length of 73 kpc (i.e., $50~h^{-1}$ kpc), and another based on projected and radial linking lengths of 73 kpc and $1000~\rm km~s^{-1}$. We refer to these as the position-position-position (PPP) and position-position-velocity (PPV) CG catalogs, respectively. The PPV catalog provides a direct analog to observed CG samples. At $z = 0$ in TNG300, we identify 383 PPP CGs and 1666 PPV CGs. A large fraction ($\sim 80\%$) of PPV CGs are not physically compact systems but are contaminated by line-of-sight interlopers. We demonstrate that the scaling relation between total group stellar mass and velocity dispersion is an effective diagnostic for identifying false positives with line-of-sight interlopers. We further examine the large-scale environments of CGs and show that they reside in a wide range of densities, including the central regions of galaxy clusters. These CG catalogs provide a robust foundation for studying the formation and evolution of CGs in cosmological simulations.
title Identification of Compact Groups of Galaxies in IllustrisTNG300
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.08364