A Mid-infrared View on the Fast Galaxy Evolution in Compact Groups

We study the mid-infrared (MIR) properties of galaxies in compact groups and their environmental dependence using the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer data. We use a sample of 670 compact groups and their 2175 member galaxies with $M_r$ < -19 and 0.01 < z < 0.0741 from Sohn et al. (2016), which were identified through a friends-of-friends algorithm. We find that the MIR [3.4]-[12] colors of early-type galaxies in compact groups are on average bluer than those of early-type galaxies in clusters. Furthermore, we find that when compact groups have both early- and late-type member galaxies, the MIR colors of the late-type galaxies in those compact groups can be bluer than those of late-type galaxies in clusters. We also find that as background galaxy number densities of compact groups increase, compact group galaxies have higher early-type galaxy fractions and bluer MIR colors. These trends are also seen for background galaxies. However, at a given background density, compact group galaxies always have higher early-type galaxy fractions and bluer MIR colors than the background galaxies. Our findings suggest that the properties of compact group galaxies depend on both internal and external environments of the compact groups, and that galaxy evolution is faster in compact groups than in clusters.