Abundance matching with the mean star formation rate: there is no missing satellites problem in the Milky Way above M₂₀₀∼10⁹M_⊙

Read, J. I. and Erkal, D. (2019) Abundance matching with the mean star formation rate: there is no missing satellites problem in the Milky Way above M₂₀₀∼10⁹M_⊙ Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Preview

Text Abundance matching.pdf - Accepted version Manuscript Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

We introduce a novel abundance matching technique that produces a more accurate estimate of the pre-infall halo mass, M₂₀₀, for satellite galaxies. To achieve this, we abundance match with the mean star formation rate, averaged over the time when a galaxy was forming stars, ⟨SFR⟩, instead of the stellar mass, M∗. Using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the GAMA survey and the Bolshoi simulation, we obtain a statistical ⟨SFR⟩−M₂₀₀ relation in ΛCDM. We then compare the pre-infall halo mass, M^abund₂₀₀, derived from this relation with the pre-infall dynamical mass, M^dyn₂₀₀, for 21 nearby dSph and dIrr galaxies, finding a good agreement between the two. As a first application, we use our new ⟨SFR⟩−M₂₀₀ relation to empirically measure the cumulative mass function of a volume-complete sample of bright Milky Way satellites within 280 kpc of the Galactic centre. Comparing this with a suite of cosmological 'zoom' simulations of Milky Way-mass halos that account for subhalo depletion by the Milky Way disc, we find no missing satellites problem above M₂₀₀∼0⁹M_⊙ in the Milky Way. We discuss how this empirical method can be applied to a larger sample of nearby spiral galaxies.

Item Type:	Article
Divisions :	Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences > Physics
Authors :	Name Email ORCID Read, J. I. j.read@surrey.ac.uk Erkal, D. d.erkal@surrey.ac.uk
Date :	2019
Copyright Disclaimer :	© 2019 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Uncontrolled Keywords :	Cosmology: dark matter. Cosmology: observations. Galaxies: abundances. Galaxies: dwarf. Galaxies: haloes. Galaxies: kinematics and dynamics.
Related URLs :	Publisher
Depositing User :	Clive Harris
Date Deposited :	21 May 2019 09:31
Last Modified :	21 May 2019 09:31
URI:	http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/id/eprint/851873

Actions (login required)

View Item

Downloads