Star-forming objects in the tidal tails of compact groups

A search for star-forming objects belonging to tidal tails has been carried out in a sample of deep H alpha images of 16 compact groups of galaxies. A total of 36 objects with H alpha luminosities greater than 10(38) ergs s(-1) has been detected in five groups. The fraction of the total H alpha luminosity of their respective parent galaxies shown by the tidal objects is always below 5% except for the tidal features of Hickson compact group 95, whose H alpha luminosity amounts to 65% of the total luminosity. Out of these 36 objects, nine star-forming tidal dwarf galaxy candidates finally have been identified on the basis of their projected distances to the nuclei of the parent galaxies and their total H alpha luminosities. Overall, the observed properties of the candidates resemble those previously reported for the so-called tidal dwarf galaxies.