The compact group--fossil group connection: observations of a massive compact group at z=0.22

It has been suggested that fossil groups could be the cannibalized remains of compact groups, that lost energy through tidal friction. However, in the nearby universe, compact groups which are close to the merging phase and display a wealth of interacting features (such as HCG 31 and HCG 79) have very low velocity dispersions and poor neighborhoods, unlike the massive, cluster-like fossil groups studied to date. In fact, known z=0 compact groups are very seldom embedded in massive enough structures which may have resembled the intergalactic medium of fossil groups. In this paper we study the dynamical properties of CG6, a massive compact group at z=0.220 that has several properties in common with known fossil groups. We report on new g' and i' imaging and multi-slit spectroscopic performed with GMOS on Gemini South. The system has 20 members, within a radius of 1 h_70^-1 Mpc, a velocity dispersion of 700 km/s and has a mass of 1.8 x 10^14 h_70^-1 Msun, similar to that of the most massive fossil groups known. The merging of the four central galaxies in this group would form a galaxy with magnitude M_r' ~ -23.4, typical for first-ranked galaxies of fossil groups. Although nearby compact groups with similar properties to CG 6 are rare, we speculate that such systems occurred more frequently in the past and they may have been the precursors of fossil groups.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures (one color, low resolution), uses emulateapj.sty. Accepted for publication in ApJ Lette

Water activity in lamellar stacks of lipid bilayers: "Hydration forces" revisited

Water activity and its relationship with interactions stabilising lamellar stacks of mixed lipid bilayers in their fluid state are investigated by means of osmotic pressure measurements coupled with small-angle x-ray scattering. The (electrically-neutral) bilayers are composed of a mixture in various proportions of lecithin, a zwitterionic phospholipid, and Simulsol, a non-ionic cosurfactant with an ethoxylated polar head. For highly dehydrated samples the osmotic pressure profile always exhibits the "classical" exponential decay as hydration increases but, depending on Simulsol to lecithin ratio, it becomes either of the "bound" or "unbound" types for more water-swollen systems. A simple thermodynamic model is used for interpreting the results without resorting to the celebrated but elusive "hydration forces"Comment: 24 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in The European Physical Journal