Planes of satellites around simulated disc galaxies: I.- Finding high-quality planar configurations from positional information and their comparison to MW/M31 data
arXiv:2004.11585 · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab7f29
Abstract
We address the 'plane of satellites problem' by studying planar configurations around two disc galaxies with no late major mergers, formed in zoom-in hydro-simulations. Due to the current lack of good quality kinematic data for M31 satellites, we use only positional information. So far, positional analyses of simulations are unable to find planes as thin and populated as the observed ones. Moreover, they miss systematicity and detail in the plane-searching techniques, as well as in the study of the properties and quality of planes, both in simulations or real data. To fill this gap, i) we extend the 4-galaxy-normal density plot method (Pawlowski et al. 2013) in a way designed to efficiently identify the best quality planes (i.e., thin and populated) without imposing extra constraints on their properties, and ii), we apply it for the first time to simulations. Using zoom-in simulations allows us to mimic MW/M31-like systems regarding the number of satellites involved as well as the galactic disc mass and morphology, in view of possible disc effects. At all timesteps analyzed in both simulations we find satellite planar configurations that are compatible, along given time intervals, with all the spatial characteristics of observed planes identified using the same methodology. However, the fraction of co-orbiting satellites within them is in general low, suggesting time-varying satellite membership. We conclude that high-quality positional planes of satellites are not infrequent in LCDM-formed disc galaxies with a quiet assembly history. Detecting kinematically-coherent, time-persistent planes demands considering the full six-dimensional phase-space information of satellites.
26 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ
References in corpus (20)
- A Vast Thin Plane of Co-rotating Dwarf Galaxies Orbiting the Andromeda Galaxy
- Four phases of angular-momentum buildup in high-z galaxies: from cosmic-web streams through an extended ring to disc and bulge
- Feedback and metal enrichment in cosmological SPH simulations - II. A multiphase model with supernova energy feedback
- The spatial distribution of the Milky Way and Andromeda satellite galaxies
- Co-orbiting satellite galaxy structures are still in conflict with the distribution of primordial dwarf galaxies
- The orbital poles of Milky Way satellite galaxies: a rotationally supported disc-of-satellites
- Scaling Relations and the Fundamental Line of the Local Group Dwarf Galaxies
- Two Planes of Satellites in the Centaurus A Group
- Shaken and Stirred: The Milky Way's Dark Substructures
- Chemical evolution of galaxies. I. A composition-dependent SPH model for chemical evolution and cooling
- Satellite Systems around Galaxies in Hydrodynamic Simulations
- Disk galaxies with broken luminosity profiles from cosmological simulations
- Vast planes of satellites in a high resolution simulation of the Local Group: comparison to Andromeda
- Evolution of galactic planes of satellites in the EAGLE simulation
- The Role of Baryons in Creating Statistically Significant Planes of Satellites around Milky Way-Mass Galaxies
- On the Stability of Satellite Planes I: Effects of Mass, Velocity, Halo Shape and Alignment
- Do halos that form early, have high concentration, are part of a pair, or contain a central galaxy potential host more pronounced planes of satellite galaxies?
- ZOMG III: The effect of Halo Assembly on the Satellite Population
- The Radial Distribution of Mono-Metallicity Populations in the Galactic Disk as Evidence for Two-Phase Disk Formation
- The nature of disk of satellites around Milky Way-like galaxies