Pre-processing, group accretion and the orbital trajectories of associated subhaloes

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution simulations to analyze the orbital trajectories of subhaloes around isolated hosts, revealing their infall patterns, pre-processing, group accretion, and the effects of encounters on their orbits.

Contribution

It provides detailed insights into the orbital histories and properties of subhaloes, including infall times, pre-processing, and the impact of encounters, based on high-resolution cosmological simulations.

Findings

21% of subhaloes are on first infall.

Approximately 44% are approaching their first apocentre.

Half of accreted systems were pre-processed before infall.

Abstract

We use a high-resolution cosmological dark matter-only simulation to study the orbital trajectories of haloes and subhaloes in the environs of isolated hosts. We carefully tally all apsis points and use them to distinguish haloes that are infalling for the first time from those that occupy more evolved orbits. We find that roughly 21 per cent of subhaloes within a host's virial radius are currently on first infall, and have not yet reached their first orbital pericentre; roughly 44 per cent are still approaching their first apocentre after infall. For the range of host masses studied, roughly half of all accreted systems were pre-processed prior to infall, and about 20 per cent were accreted in groups. We confirm that the entire population of accreted subhaloes -- often referred to as "associated" subhaloes -- extend far beyond the virial radii of their hosts, with roughly half currently residing at distances that exceed $\approx 1.2\times r_{200}$. Many of these backsplash haloes have gained orbital energy since infall, and occupy extreme orbits that carry them well past their initial turnaround radii. Such extreme orbits are created during the initial accretion and dissolution of loosely bound groups, but also through penetrating encounters between subhaloes on subsequent orbits. The same processes may also give rise to unexpectedly abrupt losses of orbital energy. These effects combine, giving rise to a large variation in the ratio of sequent apocentres for accreted systems. We find that, within 2 virial radii from host centres, the concentrations of first-infall halos are remarkably similar those of isolated field halos, whereas backsplash haloes, as well as systems that were pre-processed, are considerably more concentrated.