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# Anticipating the response of excitable systems driven by random forcing

## Abstract

We study the regime of anticipated synchronization in unidirectionally coupled model neurons subject to a common external aperiodic forcing that makes their behavior unpredictable. We show numerically and by implementation in analog hardware electronic circuits that, under appropriate coupling conditions, the pulses fired by the slave neuron anticipate (i.e. predict) the pulses fired by the master neuron. This anticipated synchronization occurs even when the common external forcing is white noise.

Synchronization of nonlinear systems is a fascinating subject that has been extensively studied on a large variety of physical and biological systemsPRK01 . While synchronization of oscillators goes back to the work by Huygens, the last decade has witnessed an increased interest in the topic of synchronization of chaotic systems B02 .

Recently, Voss VOSS  has discovered a new scheme of synchronization, called “anticipated synchronization”. Voss has shown that by using appropriate delay lines it is possible to synchronize two unidirectionally coupled systems in such a way that the slave system, $`𝐲(t)`$, predicts the behavior of the master system, $`𝐱(t)`$. Two coupling schemes were considered: complete replacement,

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill \dot{𝐱}(t)& =& \alpha 𝐱(t)+𝐟(𝐱(t\tau ))\hfill \\ \hfill \dot{𝐲}(t)& =& \alpha 𝐲(t)+𝐟(𝐱(t))\hfill \end{array}$$
(1)
and delay coupling,

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill \dot{𝐱}(t)& =& 𝐟(𝐱(t))\hfill \\ \hfill \dot{𝐲}(t)& =& 𝐟(𝐲(t))+𝐊[𝐱(t)𝐲(t\tau )].\hfill \end{array}$$
(2)
$`𝐟(𝐱)`$ is a function which defines the autonomous dynamical system under consideration, $`𝐊`$ is the coupling strength and $`\tau `$ is a delay time. It is easy to see that in both schemes the manifold $`𝐲(t)=𝐱(t+\tau )`$ is a solution of the equations, and Voss has shown that in both schemes this solution can be structurally stable. This is more remarkable when the dynamics of the master system $`𝐱`$ is “intrinsically unpredictable”, as it is the case of a chaotic system. While in the scheme of complete replacement the anticipation time $`\tau `$ can be arbitrarily large, the delay coupling scheme requires some constrains on $`\tau `$ and $`𝐊`$ for the synchronization solution to be stable VOSS . Despite this fact, the delay coupling scheme is more interesting since the anticipation time $`\tau `$ can be varied without altering the dynamics of the master system $`𝐱`$.

In this Letter we study numerically and experimentally the regime of anticipated synchronization in excitable non-autonomous systems. In our case the intrinsic unpredictability of the behavior of the dynamical system $`𝐱`$ does not arise from a chaotic dynamics, but rather from the existence of an external forcing with some element of randomness. We consider the coupled systems

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill \dot{𝐱}(t)& =& 𝐟(𝐱(t))+𝐈(t)\hfill \\ \hfill \dot{𝐲}(t)& =& 𝐟(𝐲(t))+𝐈(t)+𝐊[𝐱(t)𝐲(t\tau )],\hfill \end{array}$$
(3)
where $`𝐈(t)`$ represents a common external forcing. Notice that $`𝐲(t)=𝐱(t+\tau )`$ is no longer an exact solution of the equations \[except in the particular case of a periodic forcing $`𝐈(t+\tau )=𝐈(t)`$\]. We show that under appropriate coupling conditions there can be a very good correlation between $`𝐲(t)`$ and $`𝐱(t+\tau )`$ which, in practice, allows the prediction of the future behavior of $`𝐱(t)`$ with a high degree of accuracy. Of course, this result is more remarkable when the external forcing is a random signal.

Specifically, we have considered models of sensory neurons. Sensory neurons transform external stimuli signals as pressure, temperature, electric pulses, etc., into trains of action potentials, usually referred to as ’spikes’ or ’firings’. Their behavior is typical of excitable systems: if the forcing is above a certain threshold, the neuron fires a pulse, and after the firing, the recovery process produces an absolute refractory time during which a second firing cannot occur.

In general, sensory neurons work in a noisy environment. As a consequence, the time intervals between spikes contain a significant random component, and random spikes often occur even in the absence of stimuli. The topics of synchronous oscillations and noise have received much attention (see, e.g., LBM91 ), since it has been suggested that synchronous firing activity of sensory neurons might be a part of higher brain functions and a method for integrating distributed information into a global picture GM98 .

Here we find that the interplay of coupling, delayed feedback, and common noise can lead to anticipated synchronization. We illustrate this effect in the well known FitzHugh-Nagumo and Hodkey-Huxley neuron models. By coupling two of such systems in an unidirectional configuration as in the scheme (3), we find that when both systems are subjected to the same external random forcing, the slave system fires the same train of spikes as the master system, but at a certain amount of time earlier, i.e., the slave predicts the response of the master.

First we show results based on the FitzHugh-Nagumo model. It consists of two variables $`𝐱=(x_1,x_2)`$. The fast variable, $`x_1`$, is associated with the activator, and the slow recovery variable, $`x_2`$, is associated with the inhibitor. The equations for the master $`(x_1,x_2)`$ and the slave $`𝐲=(y_1,y_2)`$ systems, under unidirectional coupling are, respectively (see the schematic diagram shown in Fig. 1):

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill \dot{x_1}& =& x_1(x_1a)(x_11)x_2+I(t)\hfill \\ \hfill \dot{x_2}& =& ϵ(x_1bx_2)\hfill \end{array}$$
(4)
and

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill \dot{y_1}& =& y_1(y_1a)(y_11)y_2+I(t)+\hfill \\ & & +K[x_1(t)y_1(t\tau )]\hfill \\ \hfill \dot{y_2}& =& ϵ(y_1by_2)\hfill \end{array}$$
(5)
where $`a`$, $`b`$, and $`ϵ`$ are constants, $`K`$ is the coupling strength and $`\tau `$ is a delay time (associated to an inhibitory feedback loop in the slave neuron). Note that only the fast variables of the two systems are coupled. When the common external forcing, $`I(t)`$, is constant in time, the anticipated synchronization manifold: $`x_1(t+\tau )=y_1(t)`$, $`x_2(t+\tau )=y_2(t)`$ is an exact solution of Eqs. (4) and (5). If the external forcing is above threshold and for appropriate values of $`K`$ and $`\tau `$, the master system fires pulses periodically and the coupling induces a constant time shift $`\tau `$ between master and slave spikes.

We have considered different types of random external forcing $`I(t)`$. The first one corresponds to a random process whose amplitude remains constant for a time $`T`$ and then it switches to a new random value chosen uniformly in \[$`I_0D`$,$`I_0+D`$\], where $`D`$ is the noise intensity. We chose $`I_0`$ very close to (but below) the firing threshold of the excitable system. It would appear at first thought that with this type of external forcing the behavior of the master system can be easily predictable. However, there are two main factors that make the system response unpredictable: if the effect of the perturbation is not strong enough the system does not fire a pulse; besides, the system has a refractory time (after firing a pulse) during which, another firing is not possible. Figure 2 shows that anticipation occurs with this type of random external forcing for an appropriate value of the coupling strength $`K`$: after an initial transient time the two systems synchronize such that the slave system anticipates the fires of the master system by a time interval $`\tau `$. The firings in the master and the slave systems start at about the same time, and the anticipation phenomenon grows during the rising of the pulse. When the master system noisily evolves near the stable point, the anticipation vanishes. In other words, anticipation is a local process, during firings.

The same qualitative results are found with other types of external forcing such as colored or even white noise. Figures 3(a-b) display the spikes of the master and slave systems when $`I(t)`$ is Gaussian white noise.

Sometimes the slave system makes an error in anticipating the master firings. While the slave system always fires a pulse when the master system fires a pulse, it also might fire a “extra” pulse, which has no corresponding pulse in the train of pulses fired by the master. Notice that in Fig. 3(a) an error at about $`t=1900`$ occurs. Not surprisingly, we find that the longer the anticipation time $`\tau `$, the larger the number of errors. However, for a given anticipation time, the number of errors can be reduced considerably if a “cascade” of an adequate number of slave neurons is considered. A detailed study of the number of errors and its dependency with the type of external forcing will be reported elsewhere.

Next we show simulations based on a more realistic model, namely the model of electro-receptors proposed by Braun et. al B98 . This model is a modification of the Hodgkin-Huxley neuron model: $`C_M\dot{x}=i_{Na}i_Ki_{sd}i_{sr}i_l`$, where $`x`$ is the potential voltage across the membrane and $`C_M`$ is the capacitance; $`i_{Na}`$ and $`i_K`$ are the fast sodium and potassium currents, $`i_{sd}`$ and $`i_{sr}`$ are additional slow currents, $`i_l`$ is a passive leak current. For details and functional dependence of the currents on the voltage $`x`$ and other factors (as temperature) see B98 .

We extend the model to account for two unidirectionally coupled neurons, with a delayed feedback loop in the slave neuron, and subject to a common external forcing $`I(t)`$, in the same way as in the FitzHugh-Nagumo model, e.g., the equations for the master, $`x`$, and for the slave, $`y`$, neurons are:

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill C_M\dot{x}& =& i_{Na}^xi_K^xi_{sd}^xi_{sr}^xi_l^x+I(t)\hfill \\ \hfill C_M\dot{y}& =& i_{Na}^yi_K^yi_{sd}^yi_{sr}^yi_l^y+I(t)\hfill \\ & +& K[x(t)y(t\tau )].\hfill \end{array}$$

Figures 3(c-d) display the results when the common external forcing $`I(t)`$ is a Gaussian white noise. We chose parameters such that in the absence of forcing there are no spikes (subthreshold, noise-activated firing regime). The behavior observed is qualitatively the same as in the FitzHugh-Nagumo model (the slave neuron anticipates the fires of the master neuron), which indicates that the anticipation phenomenon is general and model independent. Remarkably, in this model the anticipation time can be larger than the pulse duration. It is worth mentioning that anticipated synchronization is also observed in this model for parameters such that there is spontaneous (regular or irregular) spike activity (suprathreshold firing regime).

To assess the robustness of the anticipated synchronization observed in the numerical simulations, we have implemented the FitzHugh-Nagumo model in analog hardware and constructed two coupled electronic neurons (a simplified version of the circuit is shown in Fig. 4). The electronic neurons were built using operational amplifiers and the cubic non-linearity described by $`x(xa)(x1)`$ was implemented using analog multipliers (AD633) in a circuit not shown for simplicity. The resistor $`R_C`$ controls the strength of the unidirectional coupling between the master and the slave neurons. The resistor $`R_D`$ ($`R_D=R_C`$ in our case) controls the strength of the delayed feedback into the slave neuron. The coupling and the delayed feedback have opposite signs: while the master signal was obtained at point B of Fig. 4, where the voltage is $`V_m`$, the slave signal that goes into the delay line was obtained at point C, where the voltage is $`+V_s`$. The different signs are due to the inverters that are located in between points A and B and C and D. The threshold on both neurons was controlled by a potentiometer represented by its equivalent circuit: offset and $`R_0`$. The analog delay line for the delayed feedback in the slave neuron was built using bucket brigade circuits (MN3004). A function generator with white noise output capabilities (HP33120A) was used to excite both electronic neurons. The signals were acquired using LabView and National Instruments DAQ 6025E data acquisition board.

Similar electronic neurons have been implemented in abarbanel , where it was shown that their behavior is very similar to that of biological neurons: when interfaced to biological neurons, hybrid circuits, with the electronic neurons taking the place of missing or damaged biological neurons, could function normally.

Our electronic coupled neurons behave very similar as in the numerical simulations. For an appropriate value of the coupling resistance $`R_C`$, we observe that, after a transient, the master and slave electronic neurons synchronize in such a way that the slave neuron anticipates the fires of the master neuron by a time interval approximately equal to the delay time $`\tau `$ of the feedback mechanism. Figure 5 (a) shows a typical spike train, and Fig. 5(b) displays in detail a single spike movies . We observe that, as in the numerical simulations, the firings of the master and the slave neurons start at about the same time: anticipation begins during the rising of the peak and it vanishes when the neurons are in the unexcited state. Without coupling and feedback ($`R_C=R_D=0`$) the neurons fire pulses which are, in general, desynchronized (due to the small mismatch between the circuits).

To summarize, we have studied the regime of anticipated synchronization in coupled systems exhibiting neuronal-type excitable behavior, when they are driven by common external aperiodic forcing. We have shown that under appropriate conditions, the slave system can anticipate the random spikes of the master system. This is despite of the fact that the anticipated synchronization manifold is not a solution of the equations. We have simulated numerically the coupled neurons with the FitzHugh-Nagumo and a modified Hodgkin-Huxley models and we have considered different types of random forcing. The FitzHugh-Nagumo model was also implemented in analog hardware, showing that the anticipation phenomenon is very general and robust.

Our results show that non-linearity, noise and delayed feedback might conspire to produce new interesting and unexpected phenomena, and we hope that our findings will stimulate the search for anticipated synchronization in biological systems.

The work is supported by MCyT (Spain) and FEDER, projects BFM2001-0341-C02-01 and BMF2000-1108. C. Masoller acknowledges partial support from the UIB.


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# Compact groups in the UZC galaxy sample Tables 1 and 2 are only available in electronic at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.125.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html

## 1 Introduction

Small galaxy systems such as pairs and Compact Groups (CGs) constitute the very lowest end of the clustering hierarchical scale. Given their high galaxy density and small velocity dispersion most CGs are expected to separate from their underlying background, become bound systems and ultimately collapse within a few crossing times. Actually the high frequency (or extreme longevity) of CGs can match the rather short lifetimes predicted by merger simulations (Barnes, 1989) simply by varying the fraction of dark matter distributed through the group (Mamon, 1987; Athanassoula et al., 1997; Zabludoff & Mulchaey, 1998), assuming continuous accretion of infalling galaxies (Governato et al., 1996), or assuming that CGs are dense configurations that form temporarily within loose groups (Diaferio et al., 1994). An alternative scenario requires that merging CGs are continuously replaced by new forming ones (Mamon, 2000).

To date it is difficult to further constrain the relative importance of parameters and correlations entering the modelling of CGs, essentially because no definite conclusions concerning fundamental properties of CGs have been achieved. A large unbiased sample is needed to provide statistically reliable answers to questions such as: Do isolated CGs really exist? And how does the request for minimum multiplicity depend upon magnitude and morphological classification of member galaxies? Hence, questions related to a proper choice of CG selection parameters become fundamental, whilst actually, these parameters are generally chosen according to criteria aiming at reducing contamination by non-physical structures.

Indeed, the bound status of CGs is difficult to establish. CGs, unlike galaxy clusters, though presenting adequate mass density profiles, are generally too close (z$`<`$0.1) to induce efficient gravitational lensing phenomena (Mendes de Oliveira & Giraud, 1994; Montoya et al., 1996), while concerning X-ray properties, diffuse emission tends to be associated only with embedded CGs in loose configurations that contain at least one early-type galaxy (Ponman et al., 1996; Mulchaey, 2000; Heldson & Ponman, 2000). Other tracers of a common potential well, such as HI or CO, are at present available only for a limited number of CGs (Williams & Rood, 1987; Oosterloo & Iovino, 1997; Verdes-Montenegro et al., 2001).

Therefore proximity in projected and redshift space, although affected by small number statistics, peculiar motions and interlopers (Moore et al., 1993; Diaferio et al., 1994), still remains the main tracer of physical association between galaxies in CGs. Interaction patterns and kinematical peculiarities between member galaxies constitute an a posteriori probe of physical association.

Because of the difficulty in identifying high redshift CGs, only low redshift CG samples are so far available. The best studied CG sample (HCGs, Hickson 1982,1997) contains 92 CGs showing extremely heterogeneous characteristics. HCGs have been visually selected (according to multiplicity, isolation and luminosity concordance of member galaxies) and thus reflect some of the systematic biases intrinsic to identification of systems on the basis of their bidimensional distribution only. In order to overcome these biases automatic identification of CGs has been performed on a deep 2-D southern catalogue (SCGs, Prandoni et al. 1994; Iovino et al. 1999) and on 3-D catalogs (RSCGs, Barton et al. 1996, 1998). These studies intended to produce large CG samples by (partial) parametrical reproduction of Hickson’s selection criteria. Hickson’s isolation criterion has been slightly relaxed by Iovino et al. (1999) and not included at all by Barton et al. (1996), who additionally, included triplets among CGs. Triplets are structures generally excluded in bidimensional selected CG samples because, apart from the expected high contamination by superposed fore/background galaxies, they might represent a collection of unrelated field galaxies, rather than a physical structure (Diaferio et al., 1994). The Catalogue of Triple Galaxies (Karachentseva et al., 1979; Karachentseva & Karachentsev, 2000) constitutes the exception, but because of poor number statistics affecting dynamical parameters, Triplets have so far been investigated mainly in relation to their high peculiar galaxy content.

Recent availability of a 3-D large galaxy sample, including nearly 20 000 redshifts for northern galaxies brighter than $`m_B`$=15.5 (UZC, Falco et al. 1999), allowed us to construct a large CG sample selected on the basis of their compactness only. In selecting the sample we did not try to reproduce any of Hickson’s criteria except compactness, in order to check if and at which level the properties of CGs are linked to multiplicity, to the large scale environment and to the luminosity and spectral properties of member galaxies.

The CG selection algorithm is described in Sect. 2. In Sect. 3 we describe the UZC catalogue and the prescriptions for the algorithm input parameters. The analysis of the characteristics of Triplets (Ts) and Multiplets (Ms) are presented in Sect. 4. In Sect. 5 statistical reliability of the CG sample is discussed. In Sect. 6 spectral properties of CG galaxy members are presented. CGs large scale environment and surface density contrast are analysed in Sects. 7 and 8 respectively. In Sect. 9 the relation between adopted selection parameters and the properties of the resulting CG sample are discussed. Conclusions are drawn in Sect. 10.

A Hubble constant of $`H_0`$=100 $`h^1`$km s-1Mpc-1 is used throughout.

## 2 The CG identification algorithm

In order to safely deal with CG multiplicity and properly compare T and M characteristics we have devised a CG identification algorithm imposing compactness as the only requirement. The algorithm counts neighbours to each galaxy in 3D space within a volume defined by projected distance $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$r and velocity ”distance” $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$vI ($`\mathrm{\Delta }`$r and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$vI are free input parameters). When a galaxy is found to have at least two neighbours the geometrical center of the system is identified. Additional members within $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$r and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$vI of the centroid are then searched for and a new center computed. This is an iterative process that goes on until convergence is reached, i.e. no further CG member is detected and no previously identified CG member gets excluded. Non-convergent systems are obviously rejected. CG centers are not weighted by magnitude of member galaxies on purpose, in order to enable non-biased investigation of possible relationships linking CG kinematics to luminosity.

The searching method is asymmetric and may produce different grouping depending on which galaxy is selected first. In order to overcome this undesirable effect the algorithm retains in the main sample only CGs whose single galaxies all have no further neighbour (within $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$r and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$vI) except those already listed as members. Non-symmetric CGs are excluded, because without definition of further selection criteria, the algorithm is unable to define which galaxies are CG members and which are to be left outside. The symmetrization procedure also ensures that no overlapping CGs are retained. Finally, cross correlation with ACO clusters (Struble & Rood, 1999) enables the algorithm to exclude from the sample CGs which are cluster substructures at distance less than 1 RAbell from the ACO centers.

For each CG the local surrounding galaxy density is computed within the free input parameters $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$R and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$vII. The algorithm also provides parameters indicative of average compactness and maximum physical extensions. These are the unbiased line of sight velocity dispersion $`\sigma `$v, the maximum difference in redshift space between a CG member and the center $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$vmax, the radius rave measuring projected average galaxy distance from the center, and the radius rmax defined as the projected separation between the center and the most distant CG member galaxy. Average projected dimension of CGs (rave) is preferred to the median value, because having imposed a maximum physical extension to CGs, each galaxy distance should be equally weighted.

Our algorithm displays some analogies and differences with the friends of friends (FoF) group searching algorithm by Huchra & Geller (1982) and with the hierarchical procedure applied by Tully (1987). Like Tully (1987) our CGs are defined by internal conditions only and our procedure starts hierarchically by requiring a minimum galaxy density threshold to identify a CG. At variance with the FoF method, requiring a maximum galaxy-galaxy separation as a function of redshift, we impose a maximum size for the CGs. Adopting a common scale for structures allows to safely deal with multiplicity but induces a redshift luminosity dependence. To correct for this bias the CG sample is divided in 4 distance classes (see Sect. 3) and the comparison of CGs of different multiplicity is performed within each class. Moreover while the FoF procedure, to discriminate between physical and non physical systems, requires a minimum density contrast threshold (computed with respect to the average galaxy density of the sample), our CGs are identified without a constraint on density contrast. Instead, we do compute the surface density contrast locally (within $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$R and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$vII) after CGs have been identified. The advantage of this approach is that we can perform non biased analysis of CG environments.

## 3  The CG sample

We have applied the CG searching algorithm to the UZC catalog (Falco et al., 1999), which is the widest angle redshift compilation available for nearby galaxies. The UZC catalog is a revised version of ZNCAT (Tonry & Davis, 1979) which was created for the first CFA redshift survey (Davis et al., 1982). ZNCAT is the union of CGCG galaxies in the Zwicky catalog (Zwicky 1961-, 1968) and UGC galaxies in the Uppsala General Catalog (Nilson, 1973). Inclusion within ZNCAT of UGC galaxies, which are selected applying also a diameter criterion, reduces the partial loss of low surface brightness extended galaxies in CGCG. UZC includes only ZNCAT galaxies with $`m_B`$$``$ 15.5, the limit at which Zwicky estimated that his catalog was complete. The uncertainty on UZC galaxy magnitude is 0.3 mag (Bothun & Cornell, 1990; Huchra, 1976). UZC covers the entire northern sky down to declination $``$ -2.5$`\mathrm{°}`$ and has no fixed limit on minimum galactic latitude. It is claimed (Falco et al., 1999) to be 96% complete for galaxies brighter than $`m_\mathrm{B}`$=15.5. The solid angle covered by UZC is $``$ 1.4$`\pi `$ sr. (for galaxies with $`|`$bII$`|`$ $``$ 20$`\mathrm{°}`$).

The CG sample we present here is specifically designed to allow comparison between compact Triplets and higher order CGs. Therefore, we have chosen to set $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$r=200$`h^1`$kpc and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$vI=$`\pm `$1000 km s-1. The prescription for $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$r accounts for possible huge dark haloes tied to bright galaxies (Zaritsky et al., 1997; Bahcall et al., 1995). The value for $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$vI is large enough to allow a fair sampling of the CG velocity dispersion, which can be related to other observational parameters such as morphological content and surrounding galaxy density (Somerville et al., 1996; Marzke et al., 1995). Actually, more than 95% of the CGs display $`\sigma `$v values below 500 km s-1.

Concerning the large scale, we have set $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$R = 1$`h^1`$Mpc and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$vII=$`\pm `$1000 km s-1 in order to map the environment on scales typical of loose groups/poor clusters. Moreover, adopting the same value for $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$vI and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$vII ensures that each CG is sampled to the same depth of its large scale environment. Only CGs in a redshift range 1000 km s-1 to 10 000 km s-1 enter the sample. The low redshift threshold allows us to reduce uncertainties due to peculiar motions, the upper one to reduce the incidence of CGs with only extremely bright galaxies.

The search algorithm, applied to the UZC sample with the prescriptions just defined, yields a sample of 291 CGs: 222 Triplets (Ts) and 69 Multiplets (Ms) with more than 3 member galaxies. The algorithm additionally detected (and rejected) 56 ACO subclumps and 144 non-symmetric CGs, among which Ms are at least 50%. The CG sample is shown in Table 1 which lists RA and Dec of the center (col. 2 and 3), number of members n (multiplicity) (col. 4), average projected dimension rave(col. 5), mean radial velocity cz (col. 6), unbiased radial velocity dispersion $`\sigma `$v (col. 7) and, for CGs with cz $``$ 1500 km s-1 (see Sect. 7), the number of large scale neighbours Nenv within R=1$`h^1`$Mpc (col. 8). Cross identification with HCGs and RSCGs is reported in col.9. Table 2 lists member galaxies for each CG, their position, magnitude, radial velocity and spectral classification as reported in UZC. The CG sample characteristics are shown in Fig. 1.

The CG distribution as a function of multiplicity (upper left panel) shows that Ts represent the majority of the sample. The upper right panel shows how the redshift distribution of CGs of different multiplicity compares to redshift distribution of UZC galaxies. The lower left panel shows the relation between CG multiplicity and the number of large scale neighbours Nenv. A correlation between multiplicity and large scale environment clearly emerges, with Ts representing the majority of the structures with few neighbours. The KS test indicates that distributions between Ts and higher multiplicity CGs are different with significance level larger than 99.7%.

To extract physical information from the complete flux limited sample the role of the luminosity of member galaxies has to be properly disentangled, hence nearby CGs have to be separated from more distant ones. With this aim the sample was split into 4 distance classes whose radial velocities span over a 3000 km/s range each, with an overlap among adjacent samples of 500 km/s. The first subsample is actually slightly smaller because all CGs at redshift below 1000 km/s are excluded, and its overlap with the next subsample slightly larger. The 4 subsamples lie within 1000-3000 km s-1, 2000-5000 km s-1, 4500-7500 km s-1, and 7000-10 000 km s-1 respectively (henceforth referred as subsamples I, II, III and IV). Subsamples mimic homogeneous samples, complete in magnitude and volume, and allow to correctly take into account multiplicity and neighbour density. The small overlap in redshift space does not bias the statistical analysis of the sample, as only Ts and Ms within the same subsample are compared, and no comparison between CGs in different subsamples is performed. Table 3 reports for each subsample the median value of the kinematical parameters provided by the algorithm, together with the median value of the large scale neighbours. The distribution of Ts and Ms, in the four defined distance classes, is shown in the lower right panel in Fig. 1. The decline in both distributions in subsample IV reflects the sharply decreasing luminosity function of galaxies at the high luminosity end. The fraction of UZC galaxies in CGs within each of the 4 defined subsamples is 11%, 10%, 7% and 4% respectively. Actually, since the volumes covered are extremely different, our results on the 4 subsamples exhibit different levels of statistical significance. Subsample I should strongly reflect our position within the Local Supercluster. For example, several CGs in subsample I are Virgo cluster subclumps (see Mamon 1989).

The volume number density of all CGs (computed for systems at cz$``$2500 km s-1 and $`|`$bII$`|`$$``$40$`\mathrm{°}`$) turns out to be 1.6$`\times `$10-4$`h^3`$Mpc-3, almost 4 times the density of Ms alone. CGs number density slightly exceeds values estimated in RSCGs (Barton et al., 1996), which in turn, retrieve number densities much higher than in HCGs because of Hickson’s bias against Ts.

## 4 The main properties of CGs

One essential question is whether Ts constitute a fair subsample of CGs, especially since Ts are much more numerous than Ms in all subsamples. With this aim, we compare here the magnitude of member galaxies and the CG kinematical-dynamical properties. The spectral properties and large scale environment are examined in section 6 and 7. As the KS test shows that, except for subsample I, Ms are more luminous than Ts (at 99.5% c.l.) we first check whether a similar difference is also retrieved between the luminosity of Ts and Ms member galaxies. It is found that within each of the 4 distance classes Ms and Ts member galaxies display similar absolute magnitude distributions. Hence the larger luminosity associated with Ms simply arises from the fact that Ms include more members than Ts and does not indicate that higher multiplicity CGs are typically associated with brighter galaxies.

As far as kinematical properties are concerned, Fig. 2 shows the distribution of the average extension (rave) for Ts (solid histogram) and Ms (hatched) in the four subsamples. Ts appear more compact than Ms in all but the first subsample. However, according to the KS test, differences in rave between Ts and Ms are not significant (59%, 56% and 77% c.l. respectively). This is not unexpected, given our selection criteria, and actually confirms that we sample Ts and Ms on a common scale. When rmax rather than rave is examined differences get significant (above 90% c.l.) in subsamples II and III. While $``$40% of the Ms include a member which is at a distance larger than 150$`h^1`$kpc from the center, this is the case for less than 7% of Ts. The excess of Ms with members close to the limiting distance, together with the high fraction of Ms among rejected non symmetric CGs, possibly indicates that we are sampling subclumps embedded in larger structures eventhough the external limit of 200$`h^1`$kpc imposed by the algorithm prevents from drawing definite conclusions concerning any typical dimensions for Ms. In the cz range between 2500 and 7500 km/s, including 60% of Ms, the average dimension of CGs increases with multiplicity following the relation rave $``$ n0.6. This relation has been derived for the median number of galaxies in multiplets which is 4.5.

The velocity dispersion of galaxies in a bound system provides an estimate of the potential well, although in CGs errors caused by random orientation of the system along the line of sight might dominate the result. In any case values obtained on a large sample of CGs are less affected by this bias, and thus yield more reliable results. In Fig. 3 the distributions of Ts and Ms relative to the parameter $`\sigma `$v are shown. Distributions are different at 61%, 99.6%, 97% and 98% c.l respectively. Comparison of $`\sigma `$max yields obviously more significant differences (98%, 99.99%, 99.9% and 99.8% c.l.). Considering again CGs within the range 2500-7500 km/s, we find $`\sigma `$v to increase with multiplicity as n1.4.

Next, before estimating the mass associated with CGs, we check whether and how many CGs in the sample satisfy the necessary (but not sufficient) criterion for a galaxy system to be virialized. In Fig. 4 rave/Rvir as a function of $`\sigma `$v for Ts and Ms is plotted. Rvir is computed according to prescriptions in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM ($`\mathrm{\Omega }`$M=0.3, $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$Λ=0.7) cosmologies, requiring a virialized system to display an overdensity greater than 333 with respect to the mean density of the universe. Figure 4 shows that most CGs (95%) in the sample satisfy the virialization condition and might therefore be physical bound systems. Had we compared Rvir with the harmonic radius, the fraction of virialized systems would be slightly lower (90%).

Concerning the real nature of CGs it must also be stressed that the median velocity dispersion associated with galaxies in Ts (Table 3) is comparable to the mean galaxy-galaxy velocity difference associated with field galaxies (Somerville et al., 1996; Fisher et al., 1994). Accordingly one could speculate that the Ts sample suffers from serious contamination by pseudo-structures of unrelated field galaxies (filaments viewed nearly edge on), in which redshift tracing the Hubble flow is used to compute a velocity dispersion. If this is the case the contamination by interlopers is expected to bias the velocity dispersion of Ts towards the low end. However the exclusion of suspiciously low-$`\sigma `$ systems would also cause any genuine bound CG representing a system in its final state of coalescence to be excluded from the sample. In our sample the fraction of low $`\sigma `$v CGs (i.e. $`\sigma `$v$``$100 km s-1) turns out to be 32% and 16% among Ts and Ms. The first value is slightly lower than the 40% unbound Triplets claimed by Diaferio (2000). Figures are roughly consistent given that Diaferio selects systems with a FoF algorithm, which, when applied to small systems, tends to return an excess of elongated structures displaying enhanced contamination by outliers. Concerning Ms, the bias induced by interlopers might well push the velocity dispersion higher so that it is not obvious how to separate structures contaminated by interlopers from bound structures.

The substantial difference in the kinematical characteristics of Ts and Ms might affect also parameters directly derived from $`\sigma `$v and rave such as estimated mass (M $``$ $`\sigma `$$`{}_{\mathrm{v}}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}`$$`\times `$rave) and dynamical time ($`H_0`$td $``$ H0rave/$`\sigma `$v). To compute these quantities we use rave instead of the harmonic radius rh, because we select groups according to their maximal extension rather than constraining their maximum galaxy-galaxy separation. In Figs. 5 and 6 distributions of estimated M/L and H0td are shown. It appears that Ms possibly display higher M/L and shorter H0td than Ts, even though differences concerning these quantities are only marginally significant. The use of the harmonic radius (or of the median galaxy-galaxy separation) to compute these quantities would confirm the possible difference, with significance similar to that obtained with rave. The higher mean M/L associated with Ms could indicate either a higher mean (M/L)gal or a higher fraction of mass between galaxies. Concerning H0td, the longer values associated with Ts might indicate that these are systems closer to turnaround, which are therefore less likely to be virialized. Alternatively the smaller M/L and higher H0td associated with Ts might well be claimed to arise because of contamination by interlopers, and hence to be non-physical.

In summary, the observed kinematical differences between Ts and Ms suggest that globally Ts do not constitute a fair subsample of Ms. Interestingly, differences are not significant between Ts and Ms in sample I, including mainly faint galaxies.

## 5 Simulated CG samples

In order to probe physical reliability of kinematical differences between Ts and Ms, pseudo-CG samples must be produced by running the search algorithm on a large set of randomized UZC catalogues. This allows us to correctly evaluate how much of the kinematical differences between Ts and Ms might be attributed to random properties of the UZC galaxy distribution. Yet, randomly generated catalogues (i.e. random assignment of RA, Dec and cz within the catalogue limits) would completely destroy large-scale structures in the nearby universe and hence would not constitute fair comparison samples. Random reassignment of UZC galaxy coordinates (including redshift) leads to more realistic representations.

In particular, to account for selection effects contaminating the velocity dispersion of T and M samples we have run the algorithm on 300 simulated UZC samples in which only the radial velocity of the galaxies has been reassigned. This leads to samples of $``$ 90 CGs (median=95, 87 and 101 first and last quartile) and allows to reproduce separately structures on the (projected) sky and in redshift space. Median values of the velocity dispersion distribution in the 300 pseudo-CGs samples are displayed in fig. 7, together with the median of samples of the real Ts (T) and Ms (M). It is evident that pseudo-CGs generally display $`\sigma `$v larger than observed in the real sample and that they are unable to reproduce the severe segregation observed between Ts and Ms. Accordingly, random properties do not account for the much lower $`\sigma `$v associated with Ts. Specifically, simulations indicate that for CGs between 2500 and 7500 km/s, $`\sigma `$v increases as n0.2. Subtracting this contribution from the observed slope yields the true increase in $`\sigma `$v with multiplicity, which turns out to be $`\sigma `$v $``$ n1.2. Accounting for field interlopers, which should bias the velocity dispersion of Ts towards the low end, only slightly reduces the steep slope in $`\sigma `$v. Indeed, rejection of systems with $`\sigma `$v$`<`$100 km s-1 yields (after correcting for random contributions) $`\sigma `$v $``$ n0.9.

Simulations which keep the projected position of galaxies are unable to fairly account for random properties affecting the average dimension of CGs. Therefore additional simulations have been run, in which RA and Dec of UZC galaxies have been separately reassigned. In this kind of simulated catalogues an average of 15 CGs are retrieved. The increase of CGs average dimension with multiplicity turns out to be rather modest ($``$ n0.2). Subtraction of this contribution from the observed one gives the correct increase of rave with n ($``$ n0.4). The space-number density of CGs thus appears to slightly decrease ($`\rho `$ $``$ n-0.2) from Ts to Ms, a trend which is not consistent with the relation expected in constant space-number density structures. Conversely, a small increase in surface number density ($`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ $``$ n0.2) holds, which might be induced by our request for a common projected scale for CGs of different multiplicity.

## 6 Emission properties of galaxies in CGs

UZC labels homogeneously the spectral classification (E=emission lines, A=absorption lines, B=E+A) for each galaxy, thereby allowing a check for possible links between emission properties and membership in CGs.

To test whether samples of Ts and Ms are intrinsically different, the fraction of emission (with or without absorption lines) to absorption galaxies can be compared. This fraction also represents a rough estimate of the incidence of young (or rejuvenated) over old objects, or alternatively of Spirals over Ellipticals. Figure 8 shows the Emission over Absorption (E/A) galaxy ratio for Ts (triangles) and Ms (squares) within each distance class. It is worth underlying that points in Fig. 8 indicate the ratio of the total population of emission galaxies over A galaxies in Ts and Ms.

It emerges that the fraction of emission over absorption galaxies decreases from sample I to IV. This trend towards a larger fraction of galaxies with emission spectra increasing for lower galaxy luminosities was already known to exist both in the optical (Zucca et al., 1997; Ratcliffe et al., 1998; Tresse et al., 1999) and in the near-IR (Mamon, 2001). Any comparison of the emission line galaxy fraction with respect to kinematical parameters has to account for this trend which, concerning morphology, was already reported by Tikhonov (1990), Mamon (1990) and by Whitmore (1992). However, Fig. 8 shows that, even when accounting for the decrease of emission line galaxies with redshift, Ts include higher fractions of emission line galaxies than Ms. The luminosity of Ts and Ms member galaxies being similar, the trend of increasing fraction of emission-line galaxies with decreasing multiplicity is probably real. Galaxies in Ts and Ms in sample I display no significant differences, in accordance with kinematical similarities between Ts and Ms in this subsamples.

Given that emission line galaxies are typically field galaxies, the data clearly suggest that Ts are more likely than Ms to be field structures (or to be contaminated by field interlopers) as already indicated by their lower $`\sigma `$v. To make this point more evident Fig. 8 additionally displays the E/A ratio for Single galaxies and for galaxies in CGs which are ACO subclumps (ACOCG). Single galaxies are UZC galaxies which turn out to have no UZC companion(s) within an area of 200$`h^1`$kpc radius, and within $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$cz$`=\pm `$1000 km s-1 and form a plausible comparison sample for CGs on small scales. Among UZC galaxies single galaxies are $``$ 10 times more numerous than CG galaxies. It clearly emerges that CGs, whatever their luminosity, are lacking in gas rich galaxies when compared to single galaxies, and that the deficiency is larger for Ms. At the same time Fig. 8 shows that CGs as a whole display an excess of spiral-rich galaxies when compared to those CGs which have been excluded from the sample because they turned out to be ACOCG.

Our data show the existence of a trend from single galaxies to galaxies in cluster subclumps, in which CGs occupy an intermediate position. Figure 9, displaying the ratio of emission over absorption galaxies (in CGs at distance between 2500 and 10000 km/s) as a function of CG $`\sigma `$v confirms that a morphology-velocity dispersion relation holds for the whole sample (hatched line), but also that the trend is induced by the inclusion among the CG sample of Ts (bold line) and specifically of low $`\sigma `$v Ts. Accordingly, any process linking the increase of $`\sigma `$v to the evolution of the spectral content of CGs is expected to be relevant predominantly in low multiplicity CGs. It is worth pointing out that if most low $`\sigma `$v Ts are non-real structures, the morphology-velocity dispersion relation is not retrieved.

The morphology-velocity dispersion relation is similar to the morphology-density relation observed in clusters and loose groups (Dressler 1980, Postman & Geller 1984, Whitmore & Gilmore 1991) with the fraction of gas-rich galaxies being a strong signature of multiplicity. The morphology-density relation has previously been shown to hold for HCGs (Mamon 1986, Hickson et al. 1988) with an offset relative to the general Postman & Geller relation, indicating that at given spiral fraction, compact groups appear denser. It might be the inclusion within the sample of several spiral-rich, low multiplicity CGs that induces the offset, given that we find Ts to be even denser than Ms. Again, as for the morphology-velocity dispersion relation, the offset is to be reduced if most spiral rich, low $`\sigma `$v Ts are non-physical systems.

If the lower fraction of emission line galaxies in Ms corresponds to a lower fraction of Spirals, one accordingly expects the median (M/L)gal of Ms members to be higher than for Ts galaxies. This could at least partially account for the higher M/L associated with Ms, although it remains uncertain whether the higher $`\sigma `$v and early type galaxy content associated with Ms do indeed indicate that these are systems more evolved than Ts. Multiplicity also appears to strongly influences the behaviour of systems in Hickson’s sample. Specifically we have shown (Focardi & Kelm, 2001) that the observed correlation between morphology and velocity dispersion in HCGs, (Hickson et al., 1988, 1992; Prandoni et al., 1994) just strongly reflects the different dynamical properties of systems with different multiplicity.

In summary spectral characteristics indicate that two factors tend to strongly influence the number of emission line galaxies that will be retrieved in a CG sample. One is the fraction of faint galaxies included in the sample, with fainter galaxies being more likely to display emission line spectra. The second is the minimum multiplicity of CGs. The inclusion of Ts strongly biases a sample towards emission spectra galaxies. Combined with the average lower $`\sigma `$v, interactions between galaxies in Ts are accordingly predicted to be more disruptive than those in Ms, which suggests that perturbation patterns and/or asymmetric rotation curves (Rubin et al., 1991) should be more frequent among Ts.

## 7 Large scale environment of Compact Groups

Many embedded CGs are expected to be chance alignments of galaxies, not directly bound to one another along the line of sight, that form and destroy continuously within loose groups, whilst isolated CGs are generally assumed to be close dynamical systems, whose future evolution is a function of internal parameters only. Unfortunately, defining a CG as isolated is a non trivial problem, as one has to define boundaries (in space and luminosity) below which external galaxies perturb CG evolution and above which perturbations are negligible. Previous studies of CG environments yield contradictory results. Rubin et al. (1991) studying 21 HCGs find Ts to be more isolated than Ms. On the other hand Barton et al. (1996) do not confirm this result. However hardly any isolated CG should be retrieved, as bright galaxies are known to be strongly clustered, and faint galaxies are known to cluster around bright ones (Benoist et al., 1996; Cappi et al., 1998).

In order to properly investigate possible relations between small and large scale environments, the algorithm counts neighbours (Nenv) for each CG within a distance $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$R =1 $`h^1`$Mpc and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$vII=$`\pm `$1000 km s-1 from the CG center.

To minimize distance uncertainties due to the relative incidence of peculiar motions neighbourhood richness is computed only for CGs at cz$`>`$1500 km s-1, thereby reducing the number of Ts and Ms in subsample I from 34 to 31 and from 21 to 17 respectively. In Fig. 10 the overall distribution of CGs with respect to Nenv is shown. The solid line refers to Ts, the hatched area to Ms. It clearly emerges that Ts are more likely than Ms to be found in isolated environments, but that, compared to the much more numerous single galaxies (hatched line), their environment is denser. According to the KS test differences between Ts and Ms are significant at 98%, 97% and 94% c.l. in subsamples II, III and IV, whilst they are non significant in class I. In simulated samples Ms show no excess of neighbours with respect to Ts, so that no corrections for selection effects have to be applied to the environmental data. Thus we find three independent parameters (velocity dispersion, spectral properties and environmental density) suggesting that Ts and Ms constitute different populations. The sparser environment, the higher emission line fraction and the lower velocity dispersion of Ts all might result from high contamination by field interlopers. However they are also compatible with Ts being recently formed systems of field galaxies, not yet embedded within a common virialized halo, in which dynamical friction efficiently transfers orbital energy of the group into the internal energy of a single merger remnant.

It must also be stressed that although the probability of chance alignments decreases rapidly when going from Ts to Ms, the richer environment associated with Ms enhances the probability of Ms being chance alignments. Indeed, simulations indicate (Mamon, private communication) that a Multiplet with 5 neighbours is twice as likely to be a chance alignment than a Triplet with less than 2 neighbours. Finally, we underline that the relation between CGs multiplicity and large scale galaxy density indicates that when isolation is used as a CG selection parameter the sample is biased towards either luminous or low multiplicity CGs, the former including many early type galaxies, the latter a high fraction of late type galaxies. The requirement of isolation consequently induces large scatter in the spectral (and morphological) properties of CG samples.

## 8 Surface density contrast

Next we combine information about multiplicity and environment and compute the surface density contrast of CGs ($`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$CG/$`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$env), a parameter that quantifies the excess of surface density within the CGs as compared to that of their environment.

It is defined as the surface number density of galaxies within and area of radius rmax with respect to the surface number density of galaxies within an area of radius 1$`h^1`$Mpc. A space number density contrast constraint (defined with respect to the mean of the entire sample), has previously been coupled to the FoF algorithm to identify loose galaxy groups in the CFA (Ramella et al., 1989) and SRSS (Maia et al., 1989) surveys. If we were to adopt a similar criterion, CGs would correspond to even higher overdensities, because the vast majority of the systems defined on a 200$`h^1`$ kpc scale turn out to be single galaxies, which, as shown in figure 10, are associated with environments typically sparser than those of CGs.

If surface density contrast is plotted against $`\sigma `$v one expects field systems to occupy low velocity dispersion-high density contrast regions and systems which are subclumps embedded within larger structures to occupy high velocity dispersion-low density contrast regions. In Fig. 11 the region occupied by CGs in a $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$CG/$`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$env vs. $`\sigma `$v plot is displayed. Whilst Ts are located predominantly near the field-systems area, Ms are typically associated with the embedded-systems area. Figure 11 shows that multiplicity is a rather robust parameter to discriminate between field structures and embedded structures, and indicates that, to reduce scatter in CG properties, Ts should not be included among higher multiplicity CGs, as this roughly would correspond to sampling together field-CGs and embedded-CGs.

In Fig. 11 the CGs that have been excluded from the sample because they are ACO subclumps are also plotted. ACO subclumps occupy a distinct region on the diagram. Whilst presenting a velocity dispersion similar to Ms, ACOCGs are generally less overdense structures. On one side this might confirm that several Ms are structures that constitute the central core of large-groups/poor-clusters. This interpretation nicely matches observations indicating that, concerning X-ray properties, the distinction between compact and loose groups is not a fundamental one (Heldson & Ponman, 2000). On the other hand the embedded status of many Ms could indicate that these are actually temporary chance alignments within a structure much larger than the CG (Mamon, 1986; Walke & Mamon, 1989; Hernquist et al., 1995). If this is the case, the characteristic $`\sigma `$v associated with Ms are probably too high an estimate, and all dynamically derived parameters, such as $`\mathrm{M}/\mathrm{L}`$ or the dynamical time H0td would strongly reflect the same bias.

To underline that the properties and differences between Ts and Ms are not to be attributed to random properties of the large scale distribution of UZC galaxies we show in Fig. 12 the position occupied by pseudo-CG samples extracted from simulated UZC catalogues (see section 5) on a $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$CG/$`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$env vs. $`\sigma `$v plot. As pseudo-CG samples typically include few systems, to match the numerical dimension of the real sample we have grouped together 20 pseudo-CG samples.

## 9 Sample selection criteria and CGs properties

The different kinematical, morphological and environmental behaviour displayed by Ts and Ms allows us to relate commonly adopted CG selection criteria to the sample’s properties.

Specifically our analysis has shown that multiplicity, velocity dispersion, large scale galaxy density and spectral/morphological mix are strongly linked together. Even if the explicit CG selection criterion constrains only one of these parameters, the link between them causes the remaining selection parameters to be constrained too. A constraint on compactness, such as the one we have adopted, biases a sample towards low multiplicity structures and thus indirectly towards low velocity dispersion, spiral rich, isolated structures. A small limit on the maximum velocity dispersion of CG members acts in the same direction. Therefore a parallel requirement for isolation though non affecting the low multiplicity CGs will severely reduce the number of high multiplicity CGs. Conversely, requiring a minimum of four members will bias a CG sample towards intrinsically embedded, spiral-poor groups.

Our analysis shows that Ms, whose parameters are statistically more reliable, happen to be more likely to constitute embedded subclumps whilst Ts might be more likely to be contaminated by systems which are just unbound projections of field galaxies. Interestingly, disregarding CGs in which faint members are counted (sample I), extremely compact systems with a minimum of 4 members which also fulfill the isolation criterion appear to be extremely rare indeed, thereby fitting predictions by numerical simulations claiming that compact configurations are rapidly destroyed (Mamon, 1987; Barnes, 1989).

Provided the fraction of non-physical CGs does not dominate the statistics, a large scatter in CG properties results when the analysis does not distinguish between Ts and Ms, as multiplicity appears to be a preliminary, robust discriminant between less evolved, field-systems and more evolved, embedded systems. Concerning HCGs, the suggestion that high and low $`\sigma `$v groups are intrinsically distinct can already be found in Mamon (2000), who further states that low $`\sigma `$v groups are either chance alignments or systems in their final stages of coalescence. The new point we add here is that low $`\sigma `$v systems are typically low multiplicity field structures.

That HCGs constitute a heterogeneous sample has previously also been stressed by de Carvalho et al. (1997) and Ribeiro et al. (1998), who, based on the analysis of 17 HCGs, identify 3 distinct CG families. They suggest that these correspond to 3 different dynamical stages, specifically they interpret embedded CGs as precursors of isolated and very dense systems. In comparison with Ribeiro et al. (1998) and based on our much larger CG sample we interpret low velocity dispersion, high overdense CGs (mostly Ts occurring along low density filaments) as the bottom level of the clustering process and embedded structures (either chance projections or collapsing cores within loose groups/poor clusters) such as systems in a more advanced evolutionary stage. Our interpretation, which explains the weak X-ray emission of field CGs in terms of their shallow potential wells (Heldson & Ponman, 2000), requires that when X-ray emission is observed in small, gas rich CGs, it should be totally ascribable either to individual galaxies or to collisional shock-heating of the gas in low luminosity systems.

Our analysis indicates that interactions should be efficient mainly in the most overdense, low velocity dispersion structures, which are mainly Ts that include high fractions of gas-rich galaxies. Accordingly, it is not surprising that statistical analysis looking for interaction in HCGs (which include many n$`>`$3 CGs embedded within a common halo) globally reveals low fractions of merging remnants and blue Ellipticals (Zepf, 1993). Actually, the suggestion that disturbances should be enhanced only among Ts better fits observations reporting that the most easily detected disturbed galaxies are spirals in small groups (Fried, 1988) and that the most spectacular mergers, such as bright IRAS galaxies (ULIRGs), appear to involve strong interactions of gas-rich galaxies where the pairs are either isolated or part of small groups (Sanders & Mirabel, 1996). It is also worth pointing out that the request for a minimum of 4 members which has biased the HCGs towards intrinsically embedded, gas-poor member groups, possibly explains why, despite the high expected interaction rate, HCGs as a whole present rather low evidence for strong AGN-starbursting episodes (Coziol et al., 1998; Kelm et al., 1998; Coziol et al., 2000).

Whether kinematical differences between Ts and Ms are generally compatible with hierarchical model predictions depends upon the specific assumptions one makes on the (M/L)gal of Ts and Ms member galaxies and on the fractional group mass (fgal) associated with its galaxies. Provided the luminosity of CG members is independent of multiplicity, and assuming (M/L)gal and fgal is the same for Ts and Ms, one predicts rave$``$ N1/3 and $`\sigma `$v$``$ N1/3. While the rave slope is roughly consistent with these expectations, the $`\sigma `$v slope increases much faster. Indeed, figure 8 suggests that the assumption concerning the same (M/L)gal for Ts and Ms is probably not satisfied, as absorption and emission galaxies are expected to represent ellipticals and spirals, and the former are typically associated with higher (M/L) galaxies than the latter. While (M/L)gal is expected to increase with multiplicity, fgal might actually decrease, due to the fact that higher multiplicity CGs are more likely to be associated with gas-rich, X-emitting groups. Consequently, before assessing whether globally data on CGs are (or are not) compatible with hierarchical model predictions, more accurate models, taking into account the different (M/L)gal and fgal of Ts and Ms, should be investigated.

## 10 Conclusions

We have taken advantage of a large, almost complete 3D catalogue to identify a sample of 291 northern CGs with redshift between 1000 and 10 000 km s-1. CGs include a minimum of 3 members which have to lie within a region of 200$`h^1`$ kpc and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$v=$`\pm `$1000 km s-1. Kinematical properties of CGs and spectral characteristics of member galaxies have been investigated and related to large-scale environmental parameters. The sample has been used to compare Triplets, which constitute 76% of the sample, to higher-multiplicity structures. The analysis indicates that multiplicity is intrinsically linked to CG properties such as velocity dispersion, large-scale environment and spectral characteristics of galaxies.

Specifically, it is found that Ts are more likely to be isolated systems and to display low velocity dispersion as well as a high gas-rich galaxy content. We suggest that Ts, although affected by interlopers, generally correspond to field galaxy structures. They constitute ideal sites for efficient merging to occur, and are thus likely to transform into a single galaxy as continuous accretion from surrounding galaxies is not viable on times shorter than their dynamical time scale.

On the other hand, higher multiplicity CGs are mainly associated with high velocity dispersion systems, whose members are preferentially gas-poor galaxies. These CGs display lower density contrast than field CGs and may thus suffer contamination by systems that are just temporary chance alignments within loose groups/poor clusters. Those Ms which are real physical systems should constitute the center of a larger collapsing group and are thus expected to display diffuse X-ray emission.

In summary, our data indicate that, provided most CGs are real physical systems, Ts and Ms correspond to two extremely different classes of systems. Therefore, any fair analysis of CGs properties should treat Ms and Ts separately.

###### Acknowledgements.

We are pleased to thank S. Bardelli, A. Cappi, S. Giovanardi, P. Hickson, A. Iovino, G.G.C. Palumbo, E. Rossetti, R. Sancisi, G. Stirpe and V. Zitelli for stimulating discussions and suggestions. We thank the referee G. Mamon whose comments and criticism greatly improved the scientific content of the paper. This work was supported by MURST. B.K acknowledges a fellowship of Bologna University.


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# Electrical characterization of YBCO single crystal surfaces oriented in any crystallographic direction

## 1 Introduction

Since their discovery by Bednorz and Müller , high-Tc superconductors have been the subject of considerable studies. However, their complex structure and properties are still puzzling solid state physicists . One unanswered question of importance is the relation between the superconducting gap and the pseudogap often seen in ARPES  and tunneling spectra . Their evolution both in amplitude and symmetry with doping and temperature is of great interest and needs to be determined. Low temperature tunneling studies also showed a possible break of time reversal symmetry  as well as zero bias anomalies  whose origin is not clearly established . Provided one can distinguish a pseudogap from a superconducting gap, angularly resolved tunneling experiments are good candidates to study these issues. In fact planar junctions are mechanically and chemically stable over the broad range of temperatures necessary to investigate these properties. Moreover, recent arguments  suggest that controlling the interface’s potential and thus the transport mechanism could allow to determine independantly the energy scales relevant for pairing and phase stiffness  in materials where the superconducting density is low such as in HTSC. Thus, the realization of angularly resolved planar contacts with controlled transparency on high-$`T_c`$ materials could propose experimental answers to still unanswered questions on HTCS. In this article we present a technique that allows us to realize planar junctions with controlled orientation and transparency on YBCO single crystals. We show how to control and characterize the interface quality. Briefly, the junctions are realized on the side of the crystals and allow direct injection of uncoherent quasi-particles in the copper-oxide planes. The orientation of the junction’s plane is set by mechanical polishing of the crystal and the surface barrier is controlled using ion polishing. The junction is geometrically defined using photolithography and conductance spectra $`dI/dV(V)`$ are measured down to $`T=5`$K using a lock-in technique. The measurements, carried out on several crystals prepared with different orientations and interface potential, are presented in the third section and interpreted using a phenomenological model. This experiment has an essential advantage : metallic interfaces, obtained after ion polishing, allow us to perform Andreev spectroscopy on YBCO/Au crystallographically oriented planar junctions.

## 2 Experimental

The YBa2C3O7-δ (YBCO) single crystals used in this work were optimally doped with a $`T_c`$ of 93 K and a transition width of 0.3 K as measured by ac-Hall susceptibility. The typical crystal size is $`500\mu \mathrm{m}\times 300\mu \mathrm{m}\times 80\mu \mathrm{m}`$. Crystals with the flattest surfaces and the sharpest corners were selected to be polished. The backleads $`I_{}`$ and $`V_{}`$ are attached to the crystal’s rear surface by diffusing silver epoxy at $`550^{}`$C for one hour in an atmosphere of flowing O2 as shown in figure 1a). This ensure mechanically robust and electrically excellent contacts.

Since the junctions will be realized so as to inject current directly in the CuO2 planes the junction plan must include the $`\stackrel{}{c}`$ axis. In orther words, we must be able to cut the crystal in a controllable manner in order to expose a surface less than 100 $`\mu `$m thick on its side. Polishing seems the simplest solution. The sample is embedded in an epoxy matrix in order to minimize side effects during polishing. Prior to casting, the crystal is oriented and attached to a copper disk to ensure a good thermal contact. The orientation is controlled within a couple of degrees with respect to the CuO2 planes and within $`\pm 7^{}`$ with respect to the c-axis. This uncertainty is much lower than the current injection cone, usually estimated to be around $`\pm 15^{}`$  for low transmission interfaces. After polymerization, the whole epoxy block is carefully polished with fine diamond paste. Great care has been taken in order to avoid chemical attack of crystals (water-free polishing), cracks (low speed spinning), diamond inclusions and rounded surfaces (low pressure). Between each stage the sample is washed in an ultrasonic bath and rinsed with pure acetone and ethanol to avoid contamination. The resulting surface is flat and without any scratches as observed with a DIC microscope. Some surfaces were observed using AFM and the measured surface roughness was found to be around 15 Åand sample independant. A typical image is shown on the figure 1b). The scanning size did not significantly change the measured roughness. It has been pointed out by Walker *et al.*  that diffuse scattering at the interface can significantly complicate the transmission process. Thus it is crucial to keep the roughness comparable with the Fermi wavelength of the charge carriers in YBCO. We note that very little care has yet been taken to communicate the structural properties of the surface on which planar junctions are elaborated, eventhough a parameter such as roughness is crucial to predict the transport properties of junctions. The measured roughness is only twice the carrier wavelength and although some charge carriers probably undergo diffuse scattering, polishing of YBCO surface yields outstanding results concerning the surface’s morphology.

At this stage the flat and smooth crystal surface is ready to be used to elaborate the junctions. However, polishing induces a fine amorphous or deoxygenated layer directly below the surface. Since we are concerned with conserving the bulk properties of superconductivity throughout the sample, this layer must be removed. Ion beams have been used by several groups to smooth YBCO films , to improve superconducting properties of epitaxial YBCO films  and to pattern, without damage, YBCO thin films . In line with these results we used low energy (300 $`e`$V) Xe ion beams at a normal incidence to polish and improve the superconducting properties of the crystal surface. The polishing efficiency is related to the sputtering yield of the impinging ions. This has recently been reviewed  and it appears that for normally incident ions, the sputtering yields are maximum for a surface oriented roughly $`60^{}`$ off the normal. Therefore this treatment erodes these asperities and improves the surface roughness, as well as removes the degraded surface layer. It is well known that the superconducting properties of cuprates are very sensitive to oxygen contents. During the ion beam polishing a large amount of energy is dissipated in the surface’s vicinity. To avoid heating and further loss of oxygen during the ion beam polishing the crystal is maintained at liquid nitrogen temperature. After ion polishing, a $`150`$ nm thick gold layer is sputtered *in-situ* and will be used as a counter electrode.

We are interested in the transport properties of the YBCO/Au interface. The geometry of the junction and the leads that are attached to it are defined using a photolithographic process and are shown in figure 2. The nominal junction surface is $`S=0.1810^3`$ cm2. The gold resistivity is of the order of $`0.1\mu \mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{cm}`$ at low temperature. For a uniform current injection, this requires an interface resistance higher than $`410^6\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{cm}^2`$ for the nominal junction dimensions . This condition was always fulfilled and the only source of inhomogeneities in the current injection is the inhomogeneity of the superconductor’s surface.

The measurement temperature can be varied from 5 K to 150 K, the current is measured as a function of the bias voltage and the slope of the $`I(V)`$ characteristic is measured using a lock-in technique. The experimental setup gives an absolute value of the dynamic conductance as shown in the inset in figure 5a).

In this article we stress the fact that the transparency of the YBCO/Au interface can be controlled by choosing the method of preparation of the junctions. In fact we compare in the next section the results obtained on crystals prepared differently. Two behaviours were observed depending on the preparation technique : i) the gold counter-electrode is directly sputtered after the *mechanical* polishing. This leads to an insulating behaviour of the interface resistance and thus a tunnel effect at low temperature. ii) The counter-electrode is evaporated *in-situ* after low temperature and low energy *ion* polishing. This leads to a metallic behaviour of the interface resistance and hence Andreev effect at low temperature.

## 3 Results and discussion

When considering an interface between two materials, the transmission coefficient can be estimated in principle from the absolute value of the surface resistivity. For high temperature superconductors in contact with a normal metal this is estimated  to be $`R_c\mathrm{}=(\mathrm{}/e^2)\times 2\pi ^2/Dk_F^2`$ where $`R_c\mathrm{}`$ is the measured surface resistivity, $`k_F`$ the Fermi wave vector of carriers in the superconductor and $`D`$ the transmission coefficient. For an ideal interface where $`D=1`$ and a Fermi wave vector $`k_F10^8\mathrm{cm}^1`$ the estimation gives $`R_c\mathrm{}10^{11}\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{cm}^2`$. Numerous experiments have been designed to reach this ideal limit but the best results  gave interface resistances 100 times larger than the theoretical estimate. To explain this discrepency Mannhart *et al.*  proposed the existence of a depletion layer near the interface that tends to enhance the interface resistance. Moreover spatially resolved measurements of the proximity effect  induced in thin gold layers showed large inhomogeneities. More recent STS measurements  on high quality Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8-δ thin films showed quasi-particles spectra going from S-I-N tunneling to Semi-C-I-N on a scale of a few nm. These results show that calculating the transmission coefficient from resistance measurements of macroscopic interfaces is difficult mainly because of intrinsic large inhomogeneities on high temperature superconductor surfaces.

In order to determine the dominant transport mechanism through the interface, the sole knowledge of the interface resistance is insufficient. However its temperature dependance provides indications on which transport mechanism dominates. Indeed, it is reasonable to describe the junctions as an insulating and a metallic layer. If the two layers are in serial an insulating behaviour is expected for low enough temperatures. On the contrary if the two layers are in parallel a metallic behaviour is expected for low enough temperatures as shown in fig. 3). From these properties we deduce the dominant transport mechanism through the interface. At low temperatures, a metallic interface will show Andreev reflections whereas an insulating interface will show tunneling effects. Fig. 4) shows the temperature dependance of the interface resistance for different bias voltages for the two preparation procedures for a (110) oriented surfaces.

For fig 4a) the surface of the crystal was simply mechanically polished and carefully cleaned. The junction resistance increase for decreasing temperatures is characteristic of insulating properties. Tunneling will be the dominant transport mechanism through the interface at low temperatures. We note that the behaviour of the resistance at zero bias is different from the ones at finite bias. The increase of conductivity for low bias is the signature of a Zero Bias Conductance Peak (ZBCP). ZBCP’s in HTSC are explained either in the Andreev Bound States  mechanism, or in the presence of surface defects that create Impurity Bound States . Although these different origins can in principle be differentiated by their different magnetic field properties, their probable coexistence does not facilitate the determination of their contribution to the global ZBCP. The curves in fig. 4b) show a clear metallic behaviour of the junction’s resistance with temperature. The junction was made in situ after ion polishing. The metallic behaviour comes from the removal of the degraded layer at the surface by the ions. Thus at low temperature we expect to measure mostly Andreev transport through the interface.

The fig. 5) shows the measured spectra for the tunneling and the Andreev limit obtained on different crystals. For the two junctions shown here the current injection was along the line of node of a $`d_{x^2y^2}`$ order parameter. In the tunneling limit (fig. 5a), the spectra show all the expected qualitative features of a $`d`$-wave superconductor : *i)* the DOS is depreciated below an energy of about 25 m$`e`$V corresponding to the gap amplitude generally found in the literature and *ii)* the ZBCP is present and similar to the common ZBCP measured on HTCS. In the metallic limit, the conductance is enhanced at low bias and has a sharp point at zero bias indicative of a $`d`$-wave superconductor.

## 4 Conclusion

We realized and characterized planar junctions on the side of YBCO single crystals. The direction of the injected current is controlled within a few degrees in CuO2 planes. We showed that the interface barrier can be changed from insulating to metallic by using different preparation techniques. If the crystal is simply polished the resulting interface will be insulating and single electron tunneling will be the main mechanism of transport through the interface. On the other hand, if the surface undergoes an ion polishing stage it will show a metallic behaviour and Andreev reflections below the superconducting transition. The mechanical stability of the junction allows us to perform Andreev spectroscopy as a function of temperature. These investigations are currently being undertaken and will be published elsewhere. They could provide some experimental evidence of the ideas suggested by Deutscher  by measuring different energy scales for pairing (tunneling spectroscopy) and phase coherence (Andreev spectroscopy). Our results show that under carefully established conditions the control of the surface potential of HTCS can be achieved. Further research to understand HTCS require the use of controlled interfaces. The technique presented here has yielded goog results. The authors would like to thank T. Fournier and P. Brosse-Marron for technical support and O. Fruchart for initial help with the AFM work, H. G. thanks B. Lussier for early supervision.


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# Early-Type Halo Masses from Galaxy-Galaxy Lensing

## 1 Introduction

Galaxy-galaxy lensing (the distortion of shapes of typically faint background galaxies seen near typically brighter foreground galaxies) offers a clean probe of the dark matter halo around galaxies. Here we shall restrict attention to smaller scales where it is reasonable to interpret the results as probing relatively stable and virialized halos of individual galaxies. Clusters of galaxies have traditionally been the primary target of weak lensing studies. Individual galaxy masses are far more difficult to measure due to their being less massive and hence yielding a smaller lensing signal relative to the noise. However, by stacking pairs of galaxies it is possible to beat down the noise and measure the total average halo mass (characterized here by rotation velocity).

## 2 THE DATA AND GALAXY SAMPLES

### 2.1 Data Acquisition and Reduction

The data were taken at the 3.6m CFHT telescope using the $`8192\times 8192`$ pixel UH8K camera at prime focus. The field of view of this camera is $`30^{}`$ with pixelsize $`0.207^{\prime \prime }`$. Six pointings were acquired as part of an ongoing project whose principle aim is to investigate the cosmic shear pattern caused by gravitational lensing from the large-scale structure of the Universe. This article is based on the second in a series of papers describing results from that project and focuses on properties of massive galaxy halos at radii of $`20^{\prime \prime }<\theta <60^{\prime \prime }`$ or $`50200h^1\mathrm{kpc}`$ (Wilson, Kaiser, Luppino & Cowie  \[Paper II\]). Kaiser, Wilson and Luppino  \[Paper I\] presented estimates of cosmic shear variance on $`2^{}30^{}`$ scales, and Wilson, Kaiser & Luppino  \[Paper III\] investigated the distribution of mass and light on galaxy group and cluster scales.

### 2.2 Lens and Source Galaxy Samples

Our analysis differed from other groups in that we used $`VI`$ color to select a sample of bright early-type lens galaxies with reasonably well determined redshifts. As shown in § 2.2 of Paper II, with fluxes in 2 passbands and a judicious cut in red flux, one can reliably select bright early type galaxies and assign them approximate redshifts.

To investigate the evolution of halo mass with redshift, the lenses were firstly subdivided into three slices of width $`dz=0.3`$ centered on redshifts 0.2, 0.5 and 0.8 (Table 1). Secondly, a wider slice of width $`dz=0.5`$ centered on redshift 0.5 was analyzed.

## 3 GALAXY DARK MATTER HALO MASSES

### 3.1 Observed Tangential Shear Signal

For each lens, the mean tangential shear of faint ‘source’ galaxies averaged over lens-source pairs binned by angular separation is given by

$$\gamma _T(\theta )=\frac{\underset{\mathrm{pairs}}{}W_lW_sM_{\alpha ij}\theta _i\theta _j\widehat{\gamma }_\alpha /\theta ^2}{\underset{\mathrm{pairs}}{}W_lW_s}$$
(1)
where $`\widehat{\gamma }_\alpha `$, for $`\alpha =1,2`$, is the shear estimate for the source galaxy, $`\theta `$ is the projected angular separation of the lens and source, $`W_l`$, $`W_s`$ are weights for the lens and source, and the two constant matrices $`M_1`$, $`M_2`$ are

$$M_{1lm}\left[\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right],M_{2lm}\left[\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ 1& 0\end{array}\right].$$
(2)
However, not all lens galaxies will contribute equally to the shear signal. To optimize the signal to noise, the shear contribution from each lens-source pair should be weighted by the mass of the lens. We assume here that the Faber-Jackson relation ($`M\sqrt{L}`$) continues to larger radii and weight each lens accordingly. At each redshift, the resultant mean tangential shear signal falls off with radius roughly as $`\gamma _T1/\theta `$, as expected for flat rotation curve halos.

### 3.2 Inferred Rotation Velocity

For a flat rotation curve object the shear is given by

$$\gamma _T(\theta )=\pi (v/c)^2\beta (z_l)/\theta $$
(3)
This equation allows one to convert between measured shear values and an equivalent rotation velocity (the dimensionless quantity $`\beta (z_l)`$ is calculated, assuming a source galaxy redshift distribution based on spectroscopic data from Len Cowie’s ongoing Hawaii Deep Fields Survey).

As a result of the magnitude cut discussed in § 2.2 the inferred rotation velocity is for some effective luminosity $`L_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ galaxy. The equivalent mean rotation velocity, $`v_{}`$, for an $`L_{}`$ lens galaxy is computed using $`v_{}^2=v^2/(L_{\mathrm{eff}}/L_{})^{1/2}`$.

Column 2 of Table 1 shows $`v_{}`$ at each redshift for a flat lambda ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{m0}}=0.3,\mathrm{\Omega }_{\lambda 0}=0.7`$) cosmology. We obtained values of $`v_{}=255_{42}^{+36}\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ for $`z=0.2\pm 0.15`$, $`253_{35}^{+30}`$ for $`z=0.5\pm 0.15`$, and $`228_{70}^{+53}`$ for $`z=0.8\pm 0.15`$. Thus, it appears that there is little evolution in the mass of dark matter halos with redshift. We then binned the signal for lens galaxies between $`z=0.25`$ and $`z=0.75`$ and concluded a rotation velocity of $`v_{}=238_{30}^{+27}`$ for $`z=0.5\pm 0.25`$.

For comparison, column 3 again shows $`v_{}`$ but for an Einstein-de Sitter cosmology. The inferred rotation velocity increases to $`v_{}=275_{50}^{+42}`$ , $`285_{44}^{+38}`$ and $`278_{85}^{+65}`$ for the same three intervals. The increase in $`v_{}`$ in such a universe is primarily caused by smaller $`\beta `$ values. We would conclude an overall rotation velocity of $`v_{}=269_{39}^{+34}\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ for $`z=0.5\pm 0.25`$ in this cosmology.

### 3.3 $`M/L`$ and Contribution to $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$

An $`L_{}`$ galaxy halo with $`v_{}=238`$ contains $`1.31\times 10^{12}(r/100h^1\mathrm{kpc})h^1M_{}`$ within a radius of $`r`$ (since $`M(r)=v_{}^2r/G`$). An $`L_{}`$ galaxy has a luminosity of $`1.09\times 10^{10}h^2L_{}^B`$, so the mass to light ratio is $`M/L_B=121\pm 28h(r/100h^1\mathrm{kpc})`$, or about $`M/L_B250h`$ at the outermost points we can reliably measure.

The contribution of these early-type halos to the total density of the Universe (again assuming that $`M\sqrt{L}`$, so $`M(r)=M_{}(r)\sqrt{L/L_{}}`$) is then $`\rho =M_{}(r)𝑑L\varphi _E(L)\sqrt{L/L_{}}=M_{}(r)\varphi _E\mathrm{\Gamma }(\alpha +3/2)`$. This constitutes $`\mathrm{\Omega }=0.04\pm 0.01(r/100h^1\mathrm{kpc})`$ of closure density.

## 4 Conclusions

We used colors and magnitudes to cleanly select bright early-type galaxies. By measuring a weighted mean tangential shear which decreased roughly as $`1/\theta `$ we concluded that early-type galaxies have approximately flat rotation curve halos extending out to several hundred $`h^1\mathrm{kpc}`$. By assuming a M $`\sqrt{L}`$ relationship we inferred a rotation velocity for an $`L_{}`$ galaxy of $`v_{}=238_{30}^{+27}\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0=0.3,\lambda _0=0.7`$ ($`v_{}=269_{39}^{+34}\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ for Einstein-de Sitter). We sub-divided the galaxies and found little evidence for evolution with redshift. Finally, we determined a mass-to-light ratio for early-type halos of $`M/L_B=121\pm 28h(r/100h^1\mathrm{kpc})`$ (for $`L_{}`$ galaxies) and found that these halos constitute $`\mathrm{\Omega }0.04\pm 0.01(r/100h^1\mathrm{kpc})`$ of closure density.