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The Milky Way (MW) is surrounded by dozens of satellite galaxies, with six-dimensional (6D) phase-space information measured for over 80% of this population. The spatial distribution of these satellites is an essential probe of galaxy formation and for mapping the MW’s underlying dark matter distribution. Using measured 6D phase-space information of known MW satellites, we calculate orbital histories in a joint MW+LMC potential, including the gravitational influence of the LMC on all satellites and on the MW’s center of mass, and dynamical friction owing to both galaxies, to investigate the evolution of the MW’s cumulative radial profile. We conclude that radial profiles become more concentrated over time when we consider the LMC’s gravitational influence and the group infall of LMC-associated satellites. The MW’s radial distribution is consistently more concentrated at the present day and 1 and 2 Gyr ago compared to recent surveys of nearby MW-like systems. Compared to MW-mass hosts in cosmological, zoom-in simulations, we find the MW’s radial profile is also more concentrated than those of simulated counterparts; however, some overlap exists between simulation results and our analysis of the MW’s satellite distribution 2 Gyr ago, pre-LMC infall. Finally, we posit that radial profiles of simulated MW-mass analogs also hosting an LMC companion are likely to evolve similarly to our results, such that the accretion of a massive satellite along with its satellites will lead to a more concentrated radial profile as the massive satellite advances toward its host galaxy.

We present the star-forming properties of 378 satellite galaxies around 101 Milky Way analogs in the Satellites Around Galactic Analogs (SAGA) Survey, focusing on the environmental processes that suppress or quench star formation. In the SAGA stellar mass range of 10 ^6−10 M _⊙ , we present quenched fractions, star-forming rates, gas-phase metallicities, and gas content. The fraction of SAGA satellites that are quenched increases with decreasing stellar mass and shows significant system-to-system scatter. SAGA satellite quenched fractions are highest in the central 100 kpc of their hosts and decline out to the virial radius. Splitting by specific star formation rate (sSFR), the least star-forming satellite quartile follows the radial trend of the quenched population. The median sSFR of star-forming satellites increases with decreasing stellar mass and is roughly constant with projected radius. Star-forming SAGA satellites are consistent with the star formation rate–stellar mass relationship determined in the Local Volume, while the median gas-phase metallicity is higher and median H i gas mass is lower at all stellar masses. We investigate the dependence of the satellite quenched fraction on host properties. Quenched fractions are higher in systems with larger host halo mass, but this trend is only seen in the inner 100 kpc; we do not see significant trends with host color or star formation rate. Our results suggest that lower-mass satellites and satellites inside 100 kpc are more efficiently quenched in a Milky Way–like environment, with these processes acting sufficiently slowly to preserve a population of star-forming satellites at all stellar masses and projected radii.

We present Data Release 3 (DR3) of the Satellites Around Galactic Analogs (SAGA) Survey, a spectroscopic survey characterizing satellite galaxies around Milky Way (MW)-mass galaxies. The SAGA Survey DR3 includes 378 satellites identified across 101 MW-mass systems in the distance range of 25–40.75 Mpc, and an accompanying redshift catalog of background galaxies (including about 46,000 taken by SAGA) in the SAGA footprint of 84.7 deg ^2 . The number of confirmed satellites per system ranges from zero to 13, in the stellar mass range of 10 ^6−10 M _⊙ . Based on a detailed completeness model, this sample accounts for 94% of the true satellite population down to M _⋆ = 10 ^7.5 M _⊙ . We find that the mass of the most massive satellite in SAGA systems is the strongest predictor of satellite abundance; one-third of the SAGA systems contain LMC-mass satellites, and they tend to have more satellites than the MW. The SAGA satellite radial distribution is less concentrated than the MW's, and the SAGA quenched fraction below 10 ^8.5 M _⊙ is lower than the MW's, but in both cases, the MW is within 1 σ of SAGA system-to-system scatter. SAGA satellites do not exhibit a clear corotating signal as has been suggested in the MW/M31 satellite systems. Although the MW differs in many respects from the typical SAGA system, these differences can be reconciled if the MW is an older, slightly less massive host with a recently accreted LMC/SMC system.

Environment plays a critical role in shaping the assembly of low-mass galaxies. Here, we use the U niverse M achine (UM) galaxy–halo connection framework and Data Release 3 of the Satellites Around Galactic Analogs (SAGA) Survey to place dwarf galaxy star formation and quenching into a cosmological context. UM is a data-driven forward model that flexibly parameterizes galaxy star formation rates (SFRs) using only halo mass and assembly history. We add a new quenching model to UM, tailored for galaxies with m _⋆ ≲ 10 ^9 M _⊙ , and constrain the model down to m _⋆ ≳ 10 ^7 M _⊙ using new SAGA observations of 101 satellite systems around Milky Way (MW)–mass hosts and a sample of isolated field galaxies in a similar mass range from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The new best-fit model, “UM-SAGA,” reproduces the satellite stellar mass functions, average SFRs, and quenched fractions in SAGA satellites while keeping isolated dwarfs mostly star-forming. The enhanced quenching in satellites relative to isolated field galaxies leads the model to maximally rely on halo assembly to explain the observed environmental quenching. Extrapolating the model down to m _⋆ ∼ 10 ^6.5 M _⊙ yields a quenched fraction of ≳30% for isolated field galaxies and ≳80% for satellites of MW-mass hosts at this stellar mass. Spectroscopic surveys can soon test this specific prediction to reveal the relative importance of internal feedback, cessation of mass and gas accretion, satellite-specific gas processes, and reionization for the evolution of faint low-mass galaxies.

The redshift-dependent relation between galaxy stellar mass and star formation rate (SFR), known as the star-forming sequence (SFS), is a key observational yardstick for galaxy assembly. We use the SAGAbg-A sample of background galaxies from the Satellites Around Galactic Analogs (SAGA) Survey to model the low-redshift evolution of the low-mass SFS. The sample is comprised of 23,258 galaxies with H α -based SFRs spanning $6\lt {\mathrm{log}}_{10}({M}_{\star }/[{M}_{\odot }])\lt 10$ and z < 0.21 ( t < 2.5 Gyr). Although it is common to bin or stack galaxies at z ≲ 0.2 for galaxy population studies, the difference in lookback time between z = 0 and z = 0.21 is comparable to the time between z = 1 and z = 2. We develop a model to account for both the physical evolution of low-mass SFS and the selection function of the SAGA Survey, allowing us to disentangle redshift evolution from redshift-dependent selection effects across the SAGAbg-A redshift range. Our findings indicate significant evolution in the SFS over the last ∼2.5 Gyr, with a rising normalization: $\langle \mathrm{SFR}({M}_{\star }={10}^{8.5}{M}_{\odot })\rangle (z)={1.24}_{-0.23}^{+0.25}\ z-{1.47}_{-0.03}^{+0.03}$ . We also identify the redshift limit at which a static SFS is ruled out at the 95% confidence level, which is z = 0.05 based on the precision of the SAGAbg-A sample. Comparison with cosmological hydrodynamic simulations reveals that some contemporary simulations underpredict the recent evolution of the low-mass SFS. This demonstrates that the recent evolution of the low-mass SFS can provide new constraints on the assembly of the low-mass Universe and highlights the need for improved models in this regime.

We present Milky Way-est, a suite of 20 cosmological cold-dark-matter-only zoom-in simulations of Milky Way (MW)-like host halos. Milky Way-est hosts are selected such that they (i) are consistent with the MW’s measured halo mass and concentration, (ii) accrete a Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC)-like (≈10 ^11 M _⊙ ) subhalo within the last 2 Gyr on a realistic orbit, placing them near 50 kpc from the host center at z ≈ 0, and (iii) undergo a >1:5 sub-to-host halo mass ratio merger with a Gaia–Sausage–Enceladus (GSE)-like system at early times (0.67 < z < 3). Hosts satisfying these LMC and GSE constraints constitute

We report the discovery of two ultrafaint dwarf galaxies, Leo M and Leo K, that lie outside the halo of the Milky Way (MW). Using Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the resolved stars, we create color–magnitude diagrams reaching the oldest main-sequence turnoff of each system and (i) fit for structural parameters of the galaxies; (ii) measure their distances using the luminosity of the horizontal branch stars; (iii) estimate integrated magnitudes and stellar masses; and (iv) reconstruct the star formation histories. Based on their location in the Local Group, neither galaxy is currently within the halo of the MW although Leo K is located ∼26 kpc from the low-mass galaxy Leo T and these two systems may have had a past interaction. Leo M and Leo K have stellar masses of ${1.8}_{-0.2}^{+0.3}\times {10}^{4}$ M _⊙ and 1.2 ± 0.2 × 10 ^4 M _⊙ , and were quenched ${10.6}_{-1.1}^{+2.2}$ Gyr and ${12.8}_{-4.2}^{+0.1}$ Gyr ago, respectively. Given that the galaxies are at farther distances from the MW, it is unlikely that they were quenched by environmental processing. Instead, given their low stellar masses, their early quenching timescales are consistent with the scenario that a combination of reionization and stellar feedback shut down star formation at early cosmic times.

The abundance of faint dwarf galaxies is determined by the underlying population of low-mass dark matter (DM) halos and the efficiency of galaxy formation in these systems. Here, we quantify potential galaxy formation and DM constraints from future dwarf satellite galaxy surveys. We generate satellite populations using a suite of Milky Way (MW)–mass cosmological zoom-in simulations and an empirical galaxy–halo connection model, and assess sensitivity to galaxy formation and DM signals when marginalizing over galaxy–halo connection uncertainties. We find that a survey of all satellites around one MW-mass host can constrain a galaxy formation cutoff at peak virial masses of ${{ \mathcal M }}_{50}={10}^{8}\,{M}_{\odot }$ at the 1 σ level; however, a tail toward low ${{ \mathcal M }}_{50}$ prevents a 2 σ measurement. In this scenario, combining hosts with differing bright satellite abundances significantly reduces uncertainties on ${{ \mathcal M }}_{50}$ at the 1 σ level, but the 2 σ tail toward low ${{ \mathcal M }}_{50}$ persists. We project that observations of one (two) complete satellite populations can constrain warm DM models with m _WDM ≈ 10 keV (20 keV). Subhalo mass function (SHMF) suppression can be constrained to ≈70%, 60%, and 50% that in cold dark matter (CDM) at peak virial masses of 10 ^8 , 10 ^9 , and 10 ^10 M _⊙ , respectively; SHMF enhancement constraints are weaker (≈20, 4, and 2 times that in CDM, respectively) due to galaxy–halo connection degeneracies. These results motivate searches for faint dwarf galaxies beyond the MW and indicate that ongoing missions like Euclid and upcoming facilities including the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will probe new galaxy formation and DM physics.

Measuring the relation between star formation and galactic winds is observationally difficult. In this work we make an indirect measurement of the mass-loading factor (the ratio between the mass outflow rate and star formation rate) in low-mass galaxies using a differential approach to modeling the low-redshift evolution of the star-forming main sequence and mass–metallicity relation. We use Satellites Around Galactic Analogs (SAGA) background galaxies, i.e., spectra observed by the SAGA Survey that are not associated with the main SAGA host galaxies, to construct a sample of 11,925 spectroscopically confirmed low-mass galaxies from 0.01 ≲ z ≤ 0.21 and measure auroral line metallicities for 120 galaxies. The crux of the method is to use the lowest-redshift galaxies as the boundary condition of our model, and to infer a mass-loading factor for the sample by comparing the expected evolution of the low-redshift reference sample in stellar mass, gas-phase metallicity, and star formation rate against the observed properties of the sample at higher redshift. We infer a mass-loading factor of ${\eta }_{{\rm{m}}}={0.92}_{-0.74}^{+1.76}$ , which is in line with direct measurements of the mass-loading factor from the literature despite the drastically different sets of assumptions needed for each approach. While our estimate of the mass-loading factor is in good agreement with recent galaxy simulations that focus on resolving the dynamics of the interstellar medium, it is smaller by over an order of magnitude than the mass-loading factor produced by many contemporary cosmological simulations.

We introduce the DESI LOW- Z Secondary Target Survey, which combines the wide-area capabilities of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) with an efficient, low-redshift target selection method. Our selection consists of a set of color and surface brightness cuts, combined with modern machine-learning methods, to target low-redshift dwarf galaxies ( z < 0.03) between 19 < r < 21 with high completeness. We employ a convolutional neural network (CNN) to select high-priority targets. The LOW- Z survey has already obtained over 22,000 redshifts of dwarf galaxies ( M _* < 10 ^9 M _⊙ ), comparable to the number of dwarf galaxies discovered in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR8 and GAMA. As a spare fiber survey, LOW- Z currently receives fiber allocation for just ∼50% of its targets. However, we estimate that our selection is highly complete: for galaxies at z < 0.03 within our magnitude limits, we achieve better than 95% completeness with ∼1% efficiency using catalog-level photometric cuts. We also demonstrate that our CNN selections z < 0.03 galaxies from the photometric cuts subsample at least 10 times more efficiently while maintaining high completeness. The full 5 yr DESI program will expand the LOW- Z sample, densely mapping the low-redshift Universe, providing an unprecedented sample of dwarf galaxies, and providing critical information about how to pursue effective and efficient low-redshift surveys.

We analyze clustering measurements of BOSS galaxies using a simulation-based emulator of two-point statistics. We focus on the monopole and quadrupole of the redshift-space correlation function, and the projected correlation function, at scales of 0.1 ∼ 60 h ^−1 Mpc. Although our simulations are based on w CDM with general relativity (GR), we include a scaling parameter of the halo velocity field, γ _f , defined as the amplitude of the halo velocity field relative to the GR prediction. We divide the BOSS data into three redshift bins. After marginalizing over other cosmological parameters, galaxy bias parameters, and the velocity scaling parameter, we find f σ _8 ( z = 0.25) = 0.413 ± 0.031, f σ _8 ( z = 0.4) = 0.470 ± 0.026, and f σ _8 ( z = 0.55) = 0.396 ± 0.022. Compared with Planck observations using a flat Lambda cold dark matter model, our results are lower by 1.9 σ , 0.3 σ , and 3.4 σ , respectively. These results are consistent with other recent simulation-based results at nonlinear scales, including weak lensing measurements of BOSS LOWZ galaxies, two-point clustering of eBOSS LRGs, and an independent clustering analysis of BOSS LOWZ. All these results are generally consistent with a combination of ${\gamma }_{f}^{1/2}{\sigma }_{8}\approx 0.75$ . We note, however, that the BOSS data is well fit assuming GR, i.e., γ _f = 1. We cannot rule out an unknown systematic error in the galaxy bias model at nonlinear scales, but near-future data and modeling will enhance our understanding of the galaxy–halo connection, and provide a strong test of new physics beyond the standard model.

We report the discovery of an ultrafaint dwarf (UFD) galaxy, Pegasus W, located on the far side of the Milky Way–M31 system and outside the virial radius of M31. The distance to the galaxy is ${915}_{-91}^{+60}$ kpc, measured using the luminosity of horizontal branch stars identified in Hubble Space Telescope optical imaging. The galaxy has a half-light radius ( r _h ) ${100}_{-13}^{+11}$ pc, ${M}_{V}=-{7.20}_{-0.16}^{+0.17}$ mag, and a present-day stellar mass ${6.5}_{-1.4}^{+1.1}\times {10}^{4}$ M _⊙ . We identify sources in the color–magnitude diagram (CMD) that may be younger than ∼500 Myr, suggesting late-time star formation in the UFD galaxy, although further study is needed to confirm these are bona fide young stars in the galaxy. Based on fitting the CMD with stellar evolution libraries, Pegasus W shows an extended star formation history. Using the τ _90 metric (defined as the timescale by which the galaxy formed 90% of its stellar mass), the galaxy was quenched only ${7.4}_{-2.6}^{+2.2}$ Gyr ago, which is similar to the quenching timescale of a number of UFD satellites of M31 but significantly more recent than the UFD satellites of the Milky Way. Such late-time quenching is inconsistent with the more rapid timescale expected by reionization and suggests that, while not currently a satellite of M31, Pegasus W was nonetheless slowly quenched by environmental processes.

We present Symphony, a compilation of 262 cosmological, cold-dark-matter-only zoom-in simulations spanning four decades of host halo mass, from 10 ^11 –10 ^15 M _⊙ . This compilation includes three existing simulation suites at the cluster and Milky Way–mass scales, and two new suites: 39 Large Magellanic Cloud-mass (10 ^11 M _⊙ ) and 49 strong-lens-analog (10 ^13 M _⊙ ) group-mass hosts. Across the entire host halo mass range, the highest-resolution regions in these simulations are resolved with a dark matter particle mass of ≈3 × 10 ^−7 times the host virial mass and a Plummer-equivalent gravitational softening length of ≈9 × 10 ^−4 times the host virial radius, on average. We measure correlations between subhalo abundance and host concentration, formation time, and maximum subhalo mass, all of which peak at the Milky Way host halo mass scale. Subhalo abundances are ≈50% higher in clusters than in lower-mass hosts at fixed sub-to-host halo mass ratios. Subhalo radial distributions are approximately self-similar as a function of host mass and are less concentrated than hosts’ underlying dark matter distributions. We compare our results to the semianalytic model Galacticus , which predicts subhalo mass functions with a higher normalization at the low-mass end and radial distributions that are slightly more concentrated than Symphony. We use UniverseMachine to model halo and subhalo star formation histories in Symphony, and we demonstrate that these predictions resolve the formation histories of the halos that host nearly all currently observable satellite galaxies in the universe. To promote open use of Symphony, data products are publicly available at http://web.stanford.edu/group/gfc/symphony .