The Missing Satellite Problem Outside of the Local Group: I -- Pilot Observation

TL;DR

This study presents a pilot survey of nearby galaxies outside the Local Group to investigate the missing satellite problem, revealing diversity in dwarf galaxy populations and comparing observations with simulations.

Contribution

First observational effort outside the Local Group using a statistical sample to study dwarf galaxy populations and compare with theoretical models.

Findings

Luminosity functions vary between galaxies.

Simulations overpredict dwarf numbers on average.

No strong satellite alignment observed.

Abstract

We present results from a pilot observation of nearby (~20 Mpc) galaxies with mass similar to that of the Milky Way (MW) to address the missing satellite problem. This is the first paper from an on-going project to address the problem with a statistical sample of galaxies outside of the Local Group (LG) without employing an assumption that the LG is a typical halo in the Universe. Thanks to the close distances of our targets, dwarf galaxies around them can be identified as extended, diffuse galaxies. By applying a surface brightness cut together with a careful visual screening to remove artifacts and background contamination, we construct a sample of dwarf galaxies. The luminosity function (LF) of one of the targets is broadly consistent with that of the MW, but the other has a more abundant dwarf population. Numerical simulations by Okamoto (2013) seem to overpredict the number of dwarfs on average, while more recent predictions from Copernicus Complexio are in a better agreement. In both observations and simulations, there is a large diversity in the LFs, demonstrating the importance of addressing the missing satellite problem with a statistically representative sample. We also characterize the projected spatial distributions of the satellites and do not observe strong evidence for alignments around the central galaxies. Based on this successful pilot observation, we are carrying out further observations to increase the sample of nearby galaxies, which we plan to report in our future paper.