Satellites of LMC-Mass Dwarfs: Close Friendships Ruined by Milky Way Mass Halos
Alis J. Deason (UCSC), Andrew R. Wetzel (Caltech/Carnegie), Shea, Garrison-Kimmel (UCI), Vasily Belokurov (Cambridge)

TL;DR
This study uses N-body simulations to analyze how massive satellite groups like the LMC influence the distribution and association of smaller dwarf galaxies around the Milky Way, revealing recent infall and group dispersal effects.
Contribution
It provides the first detailed analysis of the accretion and dispersal of LMC-mass satellite groups and their impact on the satellite population around MW-like halos.
Findings
7% of satellites were in an LMC-group before infall
2-4 of the DES candidate dwarfs likely associated with the LMC
LMC-group probably fell into MW less than 2 Gyr ago
Abstract
Motivated by the recent discovery of several dwarfs near the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), we study the accretion of massive satellites onto Milky Way (MW)/M31-like halos using the ELVIS suite of N-body simulations. We identify 25 surviving LMC-mass subhalos, and investigate the lower-mass satellites that were associated with these subhalos before they fell into the MW/M31 halos. Typically, 7% of the overall z=0 satellite population of MW/M31 halos were in a surviving LMC-group before falling into the MW/M31 halo. This fraction can vary between 1% and 25%, being higher for groups with higher mass and/or more recent infall times. Groups of satellites disperse rapidly in phase space after infall, and their distances and velocities relative to the group center become statistically similar to the overall satellite population after 4-8 Gyr. We quantify the likelihood that satellites were…
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