The Cosmic Evolution of Faint Satellite Galaxies as a Test of Galaxy Formation and the Nature of Dark Matter

Abstract

The standard cosmological model based on cold dark matter (CDM) predicts a large number of subhalos for each galaxy-size halo. It is well known that matching the subhalos to the observed properties of luminous satellites of galaxies in the local universe poses a significant challenge to our understanding of the astrophysics of galaxy formation. We show that the cosmic evolution and host mass dependence of the luminosity function of satellites provides a powerful new diagnostic to disentangle astrophysical effects from variations in the underlying dark matter mass function. We illustrate this by comparing the results of recent observations of satellites out to $z=0.8$ based on Hubble Space Telescope images with the predictions of three different sets of state-of-the art semi-analytic models with underlying CDM power spectra and one semi-analytic model with an underlying Warm Dark Matter (WDM) power spectrum. We find that even though CDM models provide a reasonable fit to the local luminosity function of satellites around galaxies comparable or slightly larger than the Milky Way, they do not reproduce the data as well for different redshift and host galaxy stellar mass. This tension indicates that further improvements are likely to be needed in the description of star formation if the models are to be reconciled with the data. The WDM model matches the observed mass dependence and redshift evolution of satellite galaxies more closely than any of the CDM models, indicating that a modification of the underlying power spectrum may offer an alternative solution to this tension. We conclude by presenting predictions for the color magnitude relation of satellite galaxies to demonstrate how future observations will be able to further distinguish between these models and help constrain baryonic and non-baryonic physics.

Accepted for publication in ApJ, revised to incorporate referee comments

References in corpus (15)

• Five-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Cosmological Interpretation
• The hierarchical formation of the brightest cluster galaxies
• The stellar mass assembly of galaxies from z=0 to z=4. Analysis of a sample selected in the rest-frame near-infrared with Spitzer
• PRIMUS: Constraints on Star Formation Quenching and Galaxy Merging, and the Evolution of the Stellar Mass Function From z=0-1
• Hundreds of Milky Way Satellites? Luminosity Bias in the Satellite Luminosity Function
• Dark Matter Halo Merger Histories Beyond Cold Dark Matter: I - Methods and Application to Warm Dark Matter
• The Dark Matter Annihilation Signal from Galactic Substructure: Predictions for GLAST
• Satellite abundances around bright isolated galaxies
• The Pal 5 Star Stream Gaps
• Luminous Satellites of Early-Type Galaxies I: Spatial Distribution
• The Colors of Central and Satellite Galaxies in zCOSMOS out to z ~ 0.8 and Implications for Quenching
• Bailing Out the Milky Way: Variation in the Properties of Massive Dwarfs Among Galaxy-Sized Systems
• Structure of Dark Matter Halos in Warm Dark Matter models and in models with Long-Lived Charged Massive Particles
• The effect of Warm Dark Matter on galaxy properties: constraints from the stellar mass function and the Tully-Fisher relation
• Color Dependence in the Spatial Distribution of Satellite Galaxies

Cited by in corpus (33)

• Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter
• A White Paper on keV Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter
• Inference of the Cold Dark Matter substructure mass function at z=0.2 using strong gravitational lenses
• The Present and Future Status of Heavy Neutral Leptons
• Constraining the WDM Particle Mass with Milky Way Satellites
• Joint constraints on thermal relic dark matter from strong gravitational lensing, the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest, and Milky Way satellites
• Probing dark matter substructure in the gravitational lens HE0435-1223 with the WFC3 grism
• Discovery of a close pair of faint dwarf galaxies in the halo of Centaurus A
• Observational rotation curves and density profiles vs. the Thomas-Fermi galaxy structure theory
• How to Reconcile the Observed Velocity Function of Galaxies with Theory
• Probing 3D Structure with a Large MUSE Mosaic: Extending the Mass Model of Frontier Field Abell 370
• Strong lensing signatures of luminous structure and substructure in early-type galaxies
• UVUDF: UV Luminosity Functions at the cosmic high-noon
• Warm dark matter primordial spectra and the onset of structure formation at redshift z
• A comparative study of satellite galaxies in Milky Way-like galaxies from HSC, DECaLS and SDSS
• Reionisation in sterile neutrino cosmologies
• Probing sub-galactic mass structure with the power spectrum of surface-brightness anomalies in high-resolution observations of galaxy-galaxy strong gravitational lenses. II.Observational constraints on the sub-galactic matter power spectrum
• The Missing Satellite Problem in 3D
• Gravitational Lensing - Einstein's Unfinished Symphony
• Constraining the Warm Dark Matter Particle Mass through Ultra-Deep UV Luminosity Functions at z=2
• The galaxy population in cold and warm dark matter cosmologies
• 21-cm observations and warm dark matter models
• The connection between the host halo and the satellite galaxies of the Milky Way
• Satellite galaxies around present-day massive ellipticals
• Galaxy Formation in Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter Models
• The stellar mass in and around isolated central galaxies: connections to the total mass distribution through galaxy-galaxy lensing in the Hyper Suprime-Cam survey
• Re-Examining Astrophysical Constraints on the Dark Matter Model
• The abundance of satellites depends strongly on the morphology of the host galaxy
• Equation of state, universal profiles, scaling and macroscopic quantum effects in Warm Dark Matter galaxies
• The Luminosity Functions and Redshift Evolution of Satellites of Low-Mass Galaxies in the COSMOS Survey
• Warm Dark Matter Galaxies with Central Supermassive Black-Holes
• A mass threshold in the number density of passive galaxies at z$\sim$2
• Structural evolution of quiescent galaxies at intermediate redshifts at UV and red rest-frame wavelengths