High surface brightness Arakelian galaxies and their environment

The relationship of high surface brightness Arakelian galaxies (ArG) to their environment is studied. This is done using the groups identified by the authors on the basis of the CfA2 red shift survey. Of the 15577 galaxies in the sample, 172 (1.104%) have a high surface brightness. The corresponding percentage for the galaxies with 13.0 < m ≤ 15.0 is 2.05. The following results are obtained: (a) On going from single to poor groups and on to more populated groups, the frequency of occurrence of ArG does not vary. (b) Groups of galaxies containing ArG do not differ on the average from groups which do not contain such galaxies in terms of their dynamic characteristics, such as the dispersion in radial velocity, size, and total luminosity, or their morphological content. (c) ArG do not follow the regular pattern according to which elliptical and lenticular galaxies are more often encountered in groups of galaxies than among single galaxies, i.e., it seems that the frequency of occurrence of elliptical and lenticular ArG in groups is the same as in single galaxies. (d) The surface brightnesses, diameters, and luminosities of ArG in groups of galaxies are greater than those of single ArG. This shows up especially strongly in spiral ArG.