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We report the discovery of 40 new satellite dwarf galaxy candidates in the sphere of influence of the Sombrero Galaxy (M104), the most luminous galaxy in the Local Volume. Using the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam, we surveyed 14.4 deg2 of its surroundings, extending to the virial radius. Visual inspection of the deep images and GALFIT modelling yielded a galaxy sample highly complete down to Mg ~ -9 ( Lg∼3×105 L⊙ ) and spanning magnitudes -16.4 < Mg < -8 and half-light radii 50 pc < re < 1600 pc assuming the distance of M104. These 40 new candidates, out of which 27 are group members with high confidence, double the number of potential satellites of M104 within the virial radius, placing it among the richest hosts in the Local Volume. Using a principal component analysis, we find that the entire sample of candidates is consistent with an almost circular on-sky distribution, more circular than any comparable environment found in the Illustris TNG100-1 (The Next Generation) simulation. However, the distribution of the high-probability sample is more oblate and consistent with the simulation. The cumulative satellite luminosity function is broadly consistent with analogues from the simulation, albeit it contains no bright satellite with Mg < -16.4 ( Lg∼3×108 L⊙ ), a 2.3σ occurrence. Follow-up spectroscopy to confirm group membership will begin to demonstrate how these systems can act as probes of the structure and formation history of the halo of M104. 

ABSTRACT We report the discovery of 40 new satellite dwarf galaxy candidates in the sphere of influence of the Sombrero Galaxy (M104), the most luminous galaxy in the Local Volume. Using the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam, we surveyed 14.4 deg2 of its surroundings, extending to the virial radius. Visual inspection of the deep images and galfit modelling yielded a galaxy sample highly complete down to Mg ∼ −9 ($$L_{g}\sim 3\times 10^{5}\ \mathrm{ L}_\odot$$) and spanning magnitudes −16.4 < Mg < −8 and half-light radii 50 pc < re < 1600 pc assuming the distance of M104. These 40 new candidates, out of which 27 are group members with high confidence, double the number of potential satellites of M104 within the virial radius, placing it among the richest hosts in the Local Volume. Using a principal component analysis, we find that the entire sample of candidates is consistent with an almost circular on-sky distribution, more circular than any comparable environment found in the Illustris TNG100-1 (The Next Generation) simulation. However, the distribution of the high-probability sample is more oblate and consistent with the simulation. The cumulative satellite luminosity function is broadly consistent with analogues from the simulation, albeit it contains no bright satellite with Mg < −16.4 ($$L_{g}\sim 3 \times 10^{8}\ \mathrm{ L}_\odot$$), a $$2.3\, \sigma$$ occurrence. Follow-up spectroscopy to confirm group membership will begin to demonstrate how these systems can act as probes of the structure and formation history of the halo of M104. 

Abstract We present chemical abundances and velocities of five stars between 0.3 and 1.1 kpc from the center of the Tucana II ultrafaint dwarf galaxy (UFD) from high-resolution Magellan/MIKE spectroscopy. We find that every star is deficient in metals (−3.6 < [Fe/H] < −1.9) and in neutron-capture elements as is characteristic of UFD stars, unambiguously confirming their association with Tucana II. Other chemical abundances (e.g., C, iron peak) largely follow UFD trends and suggest that faint core-collapse supernovae (SNe) dominated the early evolution of Tucana II. We see a downturn in [α/Fe] at [Fe/H] ≈ −2.8, indicating the onset of Type Ia SN enrichment and somewhat extended chemical evolution. The most metal-rich star has strikingly low [Sc/Fe] = −1.29 ± 0.48 and [Mn/Fe] = −1.33 ± 0.33, implying significant enrichment by a sub-Chandrasekhar mass Type Ia SN. We do not detect a radial velocity gradient in Tucana II ( ${\mathit{dv}}_{\mathrm{helio}}/d{\theta }_1=-{2.6}_{-2.9}^{+3.0}$km s⁻¹kpc⁻¹), reflecting a lack of evidence for tidal disruption, and derive a dynamical mass of $M_{1/2}\left(r_h\right)={1.6}_{-0.7}^{+1.1}\times {10}^6$M_⊙. We revisit formation scenarios of the extended component of Tucana II in light of its stellar chemical abundances. We find no evidence that Tucana II had abnormally energetic SNe, suggesting that if SNe drove in situ stellar halo formation, then other UFDs should show similar such features. Although not a unique explanation, the decline in [α/Fe] is consistent with an early galactic merger triggering later star formation. Future observations may disentangle such formation channels of UFD outskirts.