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An analysis of estimated galaxy magnitudes, morphology, and group angular size for the case of 100 compact groups of galaxies indicates that (1) there is no correlation between group density and magnitude difference between first- and second-ranked galaxies, (2) there is no preferred morphological type for the first-ranked galaxies, many of which are spiral, (3) the groups contain fewer spirals than a comparable sample of field galaxies, and (4) there seems to be a deficiency of faint galaxies, in comparison with rich cluster and field galaxies. This apparent deficiency is greater in groups with elliptical, first-ranked galaxies. Implications of the above results are discussed from the viewpoint of dynamical evolution.
Paul Hickson (Thu,) studied this question.