Resolved Dwarf Galaxy Searches within ~5 Mpc with the Vera Rubin Observatory and Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam

TL;DR

This paper previews how upcoming surveys with the Vera Rubin Observatory and Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam will significantly enhance the detection of faint, resolved dwarf galaxies in the Local Volume, enabling studies of their distribution and environmental effects.

Contribution

It introduces a matched-filter detection method and evaluates its effectiveness for discovering faint dwarf galaxies at various distances with upcoming surveys.

Findings

Detects dwarf galaxies up to 5 Mpc with >2 mag below TRGB.

Probes dwarf galaxies down to M_V ≈ -5 to -8 at different distances.

Enables statistical analysis of satellite abundance and environmental effects.

Abstract

We present a preview of the faint dwarf galaxy discoveries that will be possible with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam in the next decade. In this work, we combine deep ground-based images from the Panoramic Imaging Survey of Centaurus and Sculptor (PISCeS) and extensive image simulations to investigate the recovery of faint, resolved dwarf galaxies in the Local Volume with a matched-filter technique. We adopt three fiducial distances - 1.5, 3.5, 5 Mpc, and quantitatively evaluate the effects on dwarf detection of varied stellar backgrounds, ellipticity, and Milky Way foreground contamination and extinction. We show that our matched-filter method is powerful for identifying both compact and extended systems, and near-future surveys will be able to probe at least ~4.5 mag below the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) for a distance of up to 1.5 Mpc, and ~2 mag below the TRGB at 5 Mpc. This will push the discovery frontier for resolved dwarf galaxies to fainter magnitudes, lower surface brightnesses, and larger distances. Our simulations show the secure census of dwarf galaxies down to $M_{V}$$\approx$-5, -7, -8, will be soon within reach, out to 1.5 Mpc, 3.5 Mpc, and 5 Mpc, respectively, allowing us to quantify the statistical fluctuations in satellite abundances around hosts, and parse environmental effects as a function of host properties.