Mismatch and Misalignment: Dark Haloes and Satellites of Disc Galaxies

TL;DR

This study uses cosmological simulations to analyze the spatial and angular momentum distribution of satellite galaxies around disc galaxies, revealing misalignments, anisotropic accretion, and rotational support patterns.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the alignment, accretion history, and orbital dynamics of satellite galaxies in relation to their host dark matter halos and discs.

Findings

Satellite galaxies align with the outer dark matter halo shape.

Approximately 20% of satellites show polar spatial alignment.

A small fraction (~10%) exhibit rotational support from group infall.

Abstract

(Abridged) We study the phase-space distribution of satellite galaxies associated with late-type galaxies in the GIMIC suite of simulations. GIMIC consists of re-simulations of 5 cosmologically representative regions from the Millennium simulation, which have higher resolution and incorporate baryonic physics. Whilst the disc of the galaxy is well aligned with the inner regions (r ~ 0.1r_200) of the dark matter halo, both in shape and angular momentum, there can be substantial misalignments at larger radii (r ~ r_200). Misalignments of > 45 deg are seen in ~ 30% of our sample. We find that the satellite population aligns with the shape (and angular momentum) of the outer dark matter halo. However, the alignment with the galaxy is weak owing to the mismatch between the disc and dark matter halo. Roughly 20% of the satellite systems with ten bright galaxies within r_200 exhibit a polar spatial alignment with respect to the galaxy --- an orientation reminiscent of the classical satellites of the Milky Way. We find that a small fraction (~10%) of satellite systems show evidence for rotational support which we attribute to group infall. There is a bias towards satellites on prograde orbits relative to the spin of the dark matter halo (and to a lesser extent with the angular momentum of the disc). This preference towards co-rotation is stronger in the inner regions of the halo where the most massive satellites accreted at relatively early times are located. We attribute the anisotropic spatial distribution and angular momentum bias of the satellites at z=0 to their directional accretion along the major axes of the dark matter halo. The satellite galaxies have been accreted relatively recently compared to the dark matter mass and have experienced less phase-mixing and relaxation --- the memory of their accretion history can remain intact to z=0.