The Massive Satellite Population of Milky-Way Sized Galaxies

Abstract

Several occupational distributions for satellite galaxies more massive than ms~4E7 Msun around MW-sized hosts are presented and used to predict their internal dynamics. For this, a galaxy group mock catalog is constructed on the basis of (sub)halo-to-stellar mass relations constrained with the observed Galaxy Stellar Mass Function decomposed into centrals and satellites, and the 2-point correlation functions. For the MW-sized hosts we find that: 6.6% have 2 satellites in the SMC-LMC mass range; their probabilities to have 1, 2 or 3 satellites equal or larger than the LMC, the SMC or Sgr, respectively, are 0. 26, 0. 14, and 0. 14; those hosts with 3 satellites >= Sgr (as the MW) are among the most common cases, though the most and 2nd most massive satellites in these systems are SMALLER than the LMC and SMC by 0.7 and 0.8 dex, respectively. The cumulative satellite mass function is quite broad, the particular configuration of the MW being of low frequency but NOT an outlier (it is within the upper 1sig yet). For the MW satellite configuration, we constrain the halo mass to be Mh>1.4E12 Msun (1sig level). We find that the abundance of massive subhalos should agree with the abundance of massive satellites in all MW-sized hosts (there is not a massive satellite missing problem for LCDM). However, the vmax of the subhalos of satellites with ms<1E8 Msun is systematically larger than the vmax inferred from current observational studies of the MW bright dwarfs; at difference of previous works, this conclusion is based on an analysis of the overall population of MW-sized galaxies. Some pieces of evidence suggest that the issue could refer only to satellite dwarfs but not to central dwarfs; then, environmental processes associated to dwarfs inside host halos combined with SN-driven core expansion could be at the basis of the lowering of vmax.[Abridged]

10 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ. arXiv abstract improved

References in corpus (27)

• The Average Star Formation Histories of Galaxies in Dark Matter Halos from z=0-8
• Too big to fail? The puzzling darkness of massive Milky Way subhaloes
• Galaxy Groups in the SDSS DR4: I. The Catalogue and Basic Properties
• Constraining Self-Interacting Dark Matter with the Milky Way's dwarf spheroidals
• Stellar Feedback in Dwarf Galaxy Formation
• On the mass-to-light ratio of the local Galactic disc and the optical luminosity of the Galaxy
• Baryons Matter: Why Luminous Satellite Galaxies Have Reduced Central Masses
• The Baryon Content of Extremely Low Mass Dwarf Galaxies
• On the galaxy stellar mass function, the mass-metallicity relation, and the implied baryonic mass function
• The long bar as seen by the VVV survey: I. Colour-magnitude diagrams
• Stellar mass map and dark matter distribution in M31
• The Space Motion of Leo I: The Mass of the Milky Way's Dark Matter Halo
• The Cold Dark Matter Halos of Local Group Dwarf Spheroidals
• The Population of Dark Matter Subhaloes: Mass Functions and Average Mass Loss Rates
• A 2MASS All-Sky View of the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy: Variation of the Metallicity Distribution Function Along the Sagittarius Stream
• Satellite abundances around bright isolated galaxies
• Dynamics of the Magellanic Clouds in a LCDM Universe
• The statistics of the subhalo abundance of dark matter haloes
• Satellites and Haloes of Dwarf Galaxies
• On the baryonic, stellar, and luminous scaling relations of disk galaxies
• Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): In Search of Milky-Way Magellanic Cloud Analogues
• Bailing Out the Milky Way: Variation in the Properties of Massive Dwarfs Among Galaxy-Sized Systems
• The Galaxy-Halo/Subhalo connection: Mass relations and implications for some satellite occupational distributions
• Improved optical mass tracer for galaxy clusters calibrated using weak lensing measurements
• Testing cold dark matter with the low mass Tully-Fisher relation
• The distribution of faint satellites around central galaxies in the CFHT Legacy Survey
• Explaining the observed velocity dispersion of dwarf galaxies by baryonic mass loss during the first collapse

Cited by in corpus (25)

• A White Paper on keV Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter
• Why Baryons Matter: The Kinematics of Dwarf Spheroidal Satellites
• Core Formation in Dwarf Halos with Self Interacting Dark Matter: No Fine-Tuning Necessary
• Too Big to Fail in the Local Group
• The SAGA Survey: I. Satellite Galaxy Populations Around Eight Milky Way Analogs
• Halo and Subhalo Demographics with Planck Cosmological Parameters: Bolshoi-Planck and MultiDark-Planck Simulations
• Is there a "too big to fail" problem in the field?
• Milky Way Satellite Census. II. Galaxy--Halo Connection Constraints Including the Impact of the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Ages and kinematics of chemically selected, accreted Milky Way halo stars
• Organized Chaos: Scatter in the relation between stellar mass and halo mass in small galaxies
• The Dependence of Subhalo Abundance on Halo Concentration
• Modeling the Connection Between Subhalos and Satellites in Milky Way-like Systems
• Suites of dwarfs around nearby giant galaxies
• Comprehensive Assessment of the Too-Big-to-Fail Problem
• The detailed chemical abundance patterns of accreted halo stars from the optical to infrared
• Simulations of galaxies formed in warm dark matter halos of masses at the filtering scale
• Determination of Dark Matter Halo Mass from Dynamics of Satellite Galaxies
• On the nature of a shell of young stars in the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud
• The Missing Satellite Problem Outside of the Local Group: I -- Pilot Observation
• The Missing Satellite Problem Outside of the Local Group. II. Statistical Properties of Satellites of Milky Way-like Galaxies
• Subhaloes gone Notts: Subhaloes as tracers of the dark matter halo shape
• The effect of Large Magellanic Cloud on the satellite galaxy population in Milky Way analogous Galaxies
• The gap of stellar mass in galaxy groups: another perspective of the Too-big-To-Fail problem in the Milky Way
• Universal subhalo accretion in cold and warm dark matter cosmologies
• Mass Modeling the Andromeda Dwarf Galaxies: Andromeda VI and Andromeda XXIII