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Title: A search for satellite galaxies of nearby star-forming galaxies with resolved stars in LBT-SONG
ABSTRACT We present results from a resolved stellar population search for dwarf satellite galaxies of six nearby (D < 5 Mpc), sub-Milky Way mass hosts using deep (m ∼ 27 mag) optical imaging from the Large Binocular Telescope. We perform image simulations to quantify our detection efficiency for dwarfs over a large range in luminosity and size, and develop a fast catalogue-based emulator that includes a treatment of unresolved photometric blending. We discover no new dwarf satellites, but we recover two previously known dwarfs (DDO 113 and LV J1228+4358) with MV < −12 that lie in our survey volume. We preview a new theoretical framework to predict satellite luminosity functions using analytical probability distribution functions and apply it to our sample, finding that we predict one fewer classical dwarf and one more faint dwarf (MV ∼ −7.5) than we find in our observational sample (i.e. the observational sample is slightly top-heavy). However, the overall number of dwarfs in the observational sample (2) is in good agreement with the theoretical expectations. Interestingly, DDO 113 shows signs of environmental quenching and LV J1228+4358 is tidally disrupting, suggesting that low-mass hosts may affect their satellites more severely than previously believed.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1814440 1814208 1813628 1615838
NSF-PAR ID:
10348498
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume:
507
Issue:
4
ISSN:
0035-8711
Page Range / eLocation ID:
4764 to 4778
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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