Groups of two galaxies in SDSS: implications of colours on star
  formation quenching time-scales
  We have devised a method to select galaxies that are isolated in their dark
matter halo (N=1 systems) and galaxies that reside in a group of exactly two
(N=2 systems). Our N=2 systems are widely-separated (up to
$\sim$\,200\,$h^{-1}$\,kpc), where close galaxy-galaxy interactions are not
dominant. We apply our selection criteria to two volume-limited samples of
galaxies from SDSS DR6 with $M_{r}-5 \log_{10} h \leq$ -19 and -20 to study the
effects of the environment of very sparse groups on galaxy colour. For
satellite galaxies in a group of two, we find a red excess attributed to star
formation quenching of 0.15\,$\pm$\,0.01 and 0.14\,$\pm$\,0.01 for the -19 and
-20 samples, respectively, relative to isolated galaxies of the same stellar
mass. Assuming N=1 systems are the progenitors of N=2 systems, an
immediate-rapid star formation quenching scenario is inconsistent with these
observations. A delayed-then-rapid star formation quenching scenario with a
delay time of 3.3 and 3.7\,Gyr for the -19 and -20 samples, respectively,
yields a red excess prediction in agreement with the observations. The
observations also reveal that central galaxies in a group of two have a slight
blue excess of 0.06\,$\pm$\,0.02 and 0.02\,$\pm$\,0.01 for the -19 and -20
samples, respectively, relative to N=1 populations of the same stellar mass.
Our results demonstrate that even the environment of very sparse groups of
luminous galaxies influence galaxy evolution and in-depth studies of these
simple systems are an essential step towards understanding galaxy evolution in
general.
