Where are the Fossils of the First Galaxies? I. Local Volume Maps and Properties of the Undetected Dwarfs

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new simulation method to study the distribution and properties of the earliest galaxy fossils in the Local Volume, revealing many undetected ultra-faint dwarfs and challenging previous assumptions about their luminosities.

Contribution

The authors develop a novel initial condition generation technique for LCDM N-body simulations, enabling detailed analysis of first galaxy fossils and their observable properties.

Findings

Ultra-faint dwarfs are consistent with being preserved fossils of the first galaxies.

Most bright pre-reionization dwarfs merge into larger halos, not remaining fossils.

Many ultra-faints near the Milky Way are tidally modified or undetected due to low surface brightness.

Abstract

We present a new method for generating initial conditions for LCDM N-body simulations which provides the dynamical range necessary to follow the evolution and distribution of the fossils of the first galaxies on Local Volume, 5-10 Mpc, scales. The initial distribution of particles represents the position, velocity and mass distribution of the dark and luminous halos extracted from pre-reionization simulations. We confirm previous results that ultra-faint dwarfs have properties compatible with being well preserved fossils of the first galaxies. However, because the brightest pre-reionization dwarfs form preferentially in biased regions, they most likely merge into non-fossil halos with circular velocities >20-30 km/s. Hence, we find that the maximum luminosity of true-fossils in the Milky Way is L_V<10^5 L_solar, casting doubts on the interpretation that some classical dSphs are true-fossils. In addition, we argue that most ultra-faints at small galactocentric distance, R<50 kpc, had their stellar properties modified by tides, while a large population of fossils is still undetected due to their extremely low surface brightness log(Sigma_V) < -1.4. We estimate that the region outside R_50 (~ 400 kpc) up to 1 Mpc from the Milky Way contains about a hundred true fossils of the first galaxies with V-band luminosities 10^3 - 10^5 L_solar and half-light radii, r_hl ~ 100-1000 pc.