An observer's guide to the (Local Group) dwarf galaxies: predictions for their own dwarf satellite populations

Abstract

A recent surge in the discovery of new ultrafaint dwarf satellites of the Milky Way has inspired the idea of searching for faint satellites, 10³M[subscript ⊙] < M* < 10⁶M[subscript ⊙], around less massive field galaxies in the Local Group. Such satellites would be subject to weaker environmental influences than Milky Way satellites, and could lead to new insights on low-mass galaxy formation. In this paper, we predict the number of luminous satellites expected around field dwarf galaxies by applying several abundance-matching models and a reionization model to the dark-matter only Caterpillar simulation suite. For three of the four abundance-matching models used, we find a > 99 per cent chance that at least one satellite with stellar mass M* > 10⁵M[subscript ⊙] exists around the combined five Local Group field dwarf galaxies with the largest stellar mass. When considering satellites with M* > 10⁴M[subscript ⊙], we predict a combined 5-25 satellites for the five largest field dwarfs, and 10-50 for the whole Local Group field dwarf population. Because of the relatively small number of predicted dwarfs, and their extended spatial distribution, a large fraction each Local Group dwarf's virial volume will need to be surveyed to guarantee discoveries. We compute the predicted number of satellites in a given field of view of specific Local Group galaxies, as a function of minimum satellite luminosity, and explicitly obtain such values for the Solitary Local dwarfs survey. Uncertainties in abundance-matching and reionization models are large, implying that comprehensive searches could lead to refinements of both models.