Ml. Montoya et al., THE SURFACE-DENSITY PROFILES AND LENSING CHARACTERISTICS OF HICKSON COMPACT-GROUPS OF GALAXIES, The Astrophysical journal, 473(2), 1996, pp. 83-86
A statistical method is developed to infer the typical density profile
s of poor galaxy systems without resort to binning of data or assuming
a given center to each system. The method is applied to the accordant
redshift quartets in Hickson compact groups (HCGs). The distribution
of separations in these groups is consistent with a unique generalized
and modified Hubble surface density profile, with best-fit asymptotic
slope beta=1.4 and core radius R(c) 18 h(-1) kpc, although a King pro
file (beta=1) is also consistent with the data (with R(c) 6 h(-1) kpc)
. These distributions are more concentrated than what has been determi
ned previously for these groups. HCGs are unlikely to act as strong gr
avitational lenses, but analogous systems 5-10 times more distant shou
ld produce a nonnegligible fraction of giant arcs.