The Dynamics of Galaxy Pairs in a Cosmological Setting

TL;DR

This study uses cosmological simulations to analyze the dynamical behavior of galaxy pairs, revealing their binding states, environmental influences, and the rarity of isolated binary systems, emphasizing the importance of contextual analysis.

Contribution

It provides a large-scale, cosmological perspective on galaxy pair dynamics, classifying pairs by halo membership and energy, and highlighting the prevalence of external influences.

Findings

60% of galaxy pairs are bound to both their partner and a third object

Only 9% of pairs resemble isolated binary mergers

Most pairs are influenced by external massive galaxies

Abstract

We use the Millennium Simulation, and an abundance-matching framework, to investigate the dynamical behaviour of galaxy pairs embedded in a cosmological context. Our main galaxy-pair sample, selected to have separations under 250 kpc/h, consists of over 1.3 million pairs at redshift z = 0, with stellar masses greater than 10^9 Msun, probing mass ratios down to 1:1000. We use dark matter halo membership and energy to classify our galaxy pairs. In terms of halo membership, central-satellite pairs tend to be in isolation (in relation to external more massive galaxies), are energetically- bound to each other, and are also weakly-bound to a neighbouring massive galaxy. Satellite-satellite pairs, instead, inhabit regions in close proximity to a more massive galaxy, are energetically-unbound, and are often bound to that neighbour. We find that 60% of our paired galaxies are bound to both their companion and to a third external object. Moreover, only 9% of our pairs resemble the kind of systems described by idealised binary merger simulations in complete isolation. In sum, we demonstrate the importance of properly connecting galaxy pairs to the rest of the Universe.