The lopsided distribution of satellites of isolated central galaxies

Abstract

Satellites are not randomly distributed around their central galaxies but show polar and planar structures. In this paper, we investigate the axis-asymmetry or lopsidedness of satellite galaxy distributions around isolated galaxies in a hydrodynamic cosmological simulation. We find a statistically significant lopsided signal by studying the angular distribution of the satellite galaxies' projected positions around isolated central galaxies in a two-dimensional plane. The signal is dependent on galaxy mass, color and large-scale environment. Satellites that inhabit low-mass blue hosts, or located further from the hosts show the most lopsided signal. Galaxy systems with massive neighbors exhibit stronger lopsidedness. This satellite axis-asymmetry signal also decreases as the universe evolves. Our findings are in agreement with recent observational results, and they provide a useful perspective for studying galaxy evolution, especially on the satellite accretion, internal evolution and interaction with the cosmic large-scale structure.

13 pages, 8 figures, accepted by ApJ

References in corpus (16)

• A Vast Thin Plane of Co-rotating Dwarf Galaxies Orbiting the Andromeda Galaxy
• Two Planes of Satellites in the Centaurus A Group
• The universal nature of subhalo accretion
• The Alignment between Satellites and Central Galaxies: Theory vs. Observations
• Angular distribution of satellite galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 4
• The build up of the correlation between halo spin and the large scale structure
• The Anisotropic Distribution of Satellite Galaxies
• Evolution of galactic planes of satellites in the EAGLE simulation
• The Satellite Luminosity Function of M101 into the Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxy Regime
• The Lopsidedness of Satellite Galaxy Systems in $\Lambda$CDM simulations
• Lopsided Satellite Distributions around Isolated Host Galaxies
• The impact of filamentary accretion of subhaloes on the shape and orientation of haloes
• The Origin of Lopsided Satellite Galaxy Distribution in Galaxy Pairs
• Satellite Alignment: III. Satellite Galaxies Spatial Distribution and their Dependence on Redshift with A Novel Galaxy Finder
• A robust determination of halo environment in the cosmic field
• On the origin of the asymmetric dwarf galaxy distribution around Andromeda

Cited by in corpus (8)

• The Hubble Space Telescope Survey of M31 Satellite Galaxies I. RR Lyrae-based Distances and Refined 3D Geometric Structure
• Tracing satellite planes in the Sculptor group: I. Discovery of three faint dwarf galaxies around NGC 253
• New dwarf galaxy candidates in the sphere of influence of the Sombrero galaxy
• Lopsided Satellite Distributions around Isolated Host Galaxies in a LCDM Universe
• Lopsided distribution of MATLAS and ELVES dwarf satellite systems around isolated host galaxies
• Andromeda's asymmetric satellite system as a challenge to cold dark matter cosmology
• Testing a proposed "planarity" tool for studying satellite systems: On the alleged consistency of Milky Way satellite galaxy planes with $\Lambda$CDM
• Tracing satellite planes in the Sculptor group: II. Discovery of five faint dwarf galaxies in the DESI Legacy Survey