The reionization of galactic satellite populations

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution simulations with radiative transfer to explore how reionization affected the satellite galaxies of the Milky Way and Andromeda, revealing a radial gradient in reionization timing linked to galaxy formation history.

Contribution

It introduces an improved simulation approach to analyze the spatial and temporal patterns of reionization in satellite populations of Milky Way-like galaxies.

Findings

Inner satellites reionized earlier than outer ones.

Reionization timing correlates with satellite position and source emissivity.

Radial reionization gradients persist due to incomplete dynamical mixing.

Abstract

We use high resolution simulations of the formation of the local group post-processed by a radiative transfer code for UV photons, to investigate the reionization of the satellite populations of an isolated Milky Way-M31 galaxy pair in a variety of scenarios. We use an improved version of ATON which includes a simple recipe for radiative feedback. In our baseline models, reionization is initiated by low mass, radiatively regulated haloes at high redshift, until more massive haloes appear, which then dominate and complete the reionization process. We investigate the relation between reionization history and present-day positions of the satellite population. We find that the average reionization redshift (zr) of satellites is higher near galaxy centers (MW and M31). This is due to the inside-out reionization patterns imprinted by massive haloes within the progenitor during the EoR, which end up forming the center of the galaxy. Thanks to incomplete dynamical mixing during galaxy assembly, these early patterns survive down to present day, resulting in a a clear radial gradient in the average satellites reionization redshift, up to the virial radius of MW and M31 and beyond. In the lowest emissivity scenario, the outer satellites are reionized about 180 Myr later than the inner satellites. This delay decreases with increasing source model emissivity, or in the case of external reionization by Virgo or M31, because reionization happens faster overall, and becomes spatially quasi-uniform at the highest emissivity.