Triple galaxies and a hidden mass problem

The authors consider a homogeneous sample of 84 triple systems of galaxies with components brighter than m = 15.7, located in the northern sky and satisfying an isolation criterion with respect to neighboring galaxies in projection. The distributions of basic dynamical parameters for triplets have median values as follows: radial velocity dispersion 133 km/s, mean harmonic radius 63 kpc, absolute magnitude of galaxies M sub B equals -20.38, crossing time tau = 0.04 H(sup minus 1). For different ways of estimation the median mass-to-luminosity ratio is (20 - 30). A comparison of the last value with the ones for single and binary galaxies shows the presence of a virial mass excess for triplets by a factor 4. The mass-to-luminosity ratio is practically uncorrelated with linear size of triplets or with morphological types of their components. We note that a significant part of the virial excess may be explained by the presence of nonisolated triple configurations in the sample, which are produced by debris of more populous groups of galaxies.