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Session 83 - Galaxy Evolution/Interaction.
Oral session, Wednesday, January 15
Piers 4/5,
Even though loose groups are the most common environment of galaxies in the nearby universe, we know surprisingly little about the galaxies that comprise them. Recent X-ray studies argue for a correlation between the morphologies of the group members and the presence of X-ray emission from a hot, intragroup gas. Unfortunately, these correlations have been inferred from only the three or four brightest group members, since nothing is known about the group membership at fainter magnitudes. To rectify this situation, we have obtained detailed multiobject spectroscopy of a sample of groups with available X-ray data. The optical observations allow us to study the dwarf galaxy population and determine the morphological composition of groups at faint magnitudes for the first time. Furthermore, the optical data are being compared with existing ROSAT data to look for correlations between the X-ray and optical properties of groups.
