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This work has been made possible by THE THREE HUNDRED (https://the300-project.org) collaboration. The simulations used in this paper have been performed in the MareNostrum Supercomputer at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, thanks to CPU time granted by the Red Espanola de Supercomputacion. As part of THE THREE HUNDRED project, this work has received financial support from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowskaw-Curie grant agreement number 734374, the LACEGAL project. AC, AK, and GY were supported by the MICIU/FEDER through grant number PGC2018-094975-C21 as well as by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovaci ' on under research grant PID2021-122603NB-C21. AK further thanks Urge Overkill for sister havanna. WC was supported by the STFC AGP Grant ST/V000594/1 and by the Atracci ' on de Talento Contract no. 2020-T1/TIC-19882 granted by the Comunidad de Madrid in Spain. He further acknowledges the science research grants from the China Manned Space Project with NO. CMS-CSST-2021-A01 and CMS-CSST-2021-B01. RH acknowledges support from STFC through a studentship.

Analysis of institutional authors

Contreras-Santos, ACorresponding AuthorKnebe, AAuthorCui, WgAuthorYepes, GAuthor

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September 1, 2022
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Galaxy pairs in the three hundred simulations: a study on the performance of observational pair-finding techniques

Publicated to:MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY. 515 (4): 5375-5388 - 2022-08-18 515(4), DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stac2127

Authors: Contreras-Santos, Ana; Knebe, Alexander; Cui, Weiguang; Haggar, Roan; Pearce, Frazer; Gray, Meghan; De Petris, Marco; Yepes, Gustavo

Affiliations

INAF Osservatorio Astron Roma, Via Frascati 33, I-00040 Rome, Italy - Author
Sapienza Univ Roma, Dipartimento Fis, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, I-00185 Rome, Italy - Author
Univ Autonoma Madrid, Ctr Invest Avanzada Fis Fundamental CIAFF, Fac Ciencias, E-28049 Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Autonoma Madrid, Fac Ciencias, Dept Fis Teor, Modulo 15, E-28049 Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Edinburgh, Inst Astron, Royal Observ, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, Midlothian, Scotland - Author
Univ Nottingham, Sch Phys & Astron, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England - Author
Univ Western Australia, Int Ctr Radio Astron Res, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia - Author
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Abstract

Close pairs of galaxies have been broadly studied in the literature as a way to understand galaxy interactions and mergers. In observations, they are usually defined by setting a maximum separation in the sky and in velocity along the line of sight, and finding galaxies within these ranges. However, when observing the sky, projection effects can affect the results, by creating spurious pairs that are not close in physical distance. In this work, we mimic these observational techniques to find pairs in the three hundred simulations of clusters of galaxies. The galaxies' 3D coordinates are projected into 2D, with Hubble flow included for their line-of-sight velocities. The pairs found are classified into 'good' or 'bad' depending on whether their 3D separations are within the 2D spatial limit or not. We find that the fraction of good pairs can be between 30 and 60 per cent depending on the thresholds used in observations. Studying the ratios of observable properties between the pair member galaxies, we find that the likelihood of a pair being 'good' can be increased by around 40, 20, and 30 per cent if the given pair has, respectively, a mass ratio below 0.2, metallicity ratio above 0.8, or colour ratio below 0.8. Moreover, shape and stellar-to-halo mass ratios, respectively, below 0.4 and 0.2 can increase the likelihood by 50 to 100 per cent. These results suggest that these properties can be used to increase the chance of finding good pairs in observations of galaxy clusters and their environment.

Keywords

Close pairsCompact-groupsCosmological simulationsDark-matterDigital sky surveyDynamical stateEvolutionGalaxies: clusters: generalGalaxies: generalGalaxies: interactionsMerger fractionMethods: numericalProjectStar-formation

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2022, it was in position 17/69, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Astronomy & Astrophysics.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from the Field Citation Ratio (FCR) of the Dimensions source, it yields a value of: 3.74, which indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: Dimensions Jul 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-07-09, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 4
  • Scopus: 4

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-09:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 7.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 7 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 0.5.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 2 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Australia; Italy; United Kingdom.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (CONTRERAS DE SANTOS, ANA) and Last Author (YEPES ALONSO, GUSTAVO).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been CONTRERAS DE SANTOS, ANA.