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We examine the prevalence, longevity, and causes of planes of satellite dwarf galaxies, as observed in the Local Group. We use 14 Milky Way/Andromeda-(MW/M31) mass host galaxies from the Feedback In Realistic Environments-2 simulations. We select the 14 most massive satellites by stellar mass within ≤ 300, kpc of each host and correct for incompleteness from the foreground galactic disc when comparing to the MW. We find that MW-like planes as spatially thin and/or kinematically coherent as observed are uncommon, but they do exist in our simulations. Spatially thin planes occur in 1-2 per cent of snapshots during z = 0-0.2, and kinematically coherent planes occur in 5 per cent of snapshots. These planes are generally transient, surviving for

We explore the origin of stellar metallicity gradients in simulated and observed dwarf galaxies. We use FIRE-2 cosmological baryonic zoom-in simulations of 26 isolated galaxies as well as existing observational data for 10 Local Group dwarf galaxies. Our simulated galaxies have stellar masses between 105.5 and 108.6 MO. Whilst gas-phase metallicty gradients are generally weak in our simulated galaxies, we find that stellar metallicity gradients are common, with central regions tending to be more metal-rich than the outer parts. The strength of the gradient is correlated with galaxy-wide median stellar age, such that galaxies with younger stellar populations have flatter gradients. Stellar metallicty gradients are set by two competing processes: (1) the steady 'puffing' of old, metal-poor stars by feedback-driven potential fluctuations and (2) the accretion of extended, metal-rich gas at late times, which fuels late-time metal-rich star formation. If recent star formation dominates, then extended, metal-rich star formation washes out pre-existing gradients from the 'puffing' process. We use published results from ten Local Group dwarf galaxies to show that a similar relationship between age and stellar metallicity-gradient strength exists among real dwarfs. This suggests that observed stellar metallicity gradients may be driven largely by the baryon/feedback cycle rather than by external environmental effects.

While many tensions between Local Group (LG) satellite galaxies and ⋀ cold dark matter cosmology have been alleviated through recent cosmological simulations, the spatial distribution of satellites remains an important test of physical models and physical versus numerical disruption in simulations. Using the FIRE-2 cosmological zoom-in baryonic simulations, we examine the radial distributions of satellites with M∗ > 105 M☉ around eight isolated Milky Way (MW) mass host galaxies and four hosts in LG-like pairs. We demonstrate that these simulations resolve the survival and physical destruction of satellites with M∗ ≲ 105 M☉. The simulations broadly agree with LG observations, spanning the radial profiles around the MW and M31. This agreement does not depend strongly on satellite mass, even at distances ≾100 kpc. Host-to-host variation dominates the scatter in satellite counts within 300 kpc of the hosts, while time variation dominates scatter within 50 kpc. More massive host galaxies within our sample have fewer satellites at small distances, likely because of enhanced tidal destruction of satellites via the baryonic discs of host galaxies. Furthermore, we quantify and provide fits to the tidal depletion of subhaloes in baryonic relative to dark matter-only simulations as a function of distance. Our simulated profiles imply observational incompleteness in the LG even at M∗ ≳ 105 M☉: we predict 2-10 such satellites to be discovered around the MW and possibly 6-9 around M31. To provide cosmological context, we compare our results with the radial profiles of satellites around MW analogues in the SAGA survey, finding that our simulations are broadly consistent with most SAGA systems.

We present the star formation history (SFH) of the isolated (D ∼ 970 kpc) Local Group dwarf galaxy Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte (WLM) measured from colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) constructed from deep Hubble Space Telescope imaging. Our observations include a central (0.5 rh) and outer field (0.7 rh) that reach below the oldest main-sequence turn-off. WLM has no early dominant episode of star formation: 20 per cent of its stellar mass formed by ∼12.5 Gyr ago (z ∼ 5). It also has an SFR that rises to the present with 50 per cent of the stellar mass within the most recent 5 Gyr (z < 0.7). There is evidence of a strong age gradient: the mean age of the outer field is 5 Gyr older than the inner field despite being only 0.4 kpc apart. Some models suggest such steep gradients are associated with strong stellar feedback and dark-matter core creation. The SFHs of real isolated dwarf galaxies and those from the Feedback in Realistic Environment suite are in good agreement for M*(z = 0) ∼ 107-109M☉, but in worse agreement at lower masses (M*(z = 0) ∼ 105-107 M☉). These differences may be explainable by systematics in the models (e.g. reionization model) and/or observations (HST field placement). We suggest that a coordinated effort to get deep CMDs between HST/JWST (crowded central fields) and WFIRST (wide-area halo coverage) is the optimal path for measuring global SFHs of isolated dwarf galaxies.

We study a suite of extremely high-resolution cosmological Feedback in Realistic Environments simulations of dwarf galaxies (Mhalo ≲ 1010 M☉), run to z = 0 with 30 M☉ resolution, sufficient (for the first time) to resolve the internal structure of individual supernovae remnants within the cooling radius. Every halo with Mhalo ≳ 108.6 M☉ is populated by a resolved stellar galaxy, suggesting very low-mass dwarfs may be ubiquitous in the field. Our ultra-faint dwarfs (UFDs; M∗ < 105 M☉) have their star formation (SF) truncated early (z ≳ 2), likely by reionization, while classical dwarfs (M∗ > 105 M☉) continue forming stars to z < 0.5. The systems have bursty star formation histories, forming most of their stars in periods of elevated SF strongly clustered in both space and time. This allows our dwarf with M∗/Mhalo > 10−4 to form a dark matter core >200 pc, while lower mass UFDs exhibit cusps down to ≲100 pc, as expected from energetic arguments. Our dwarfs with M∗ > 104 M☉ have half-mass radii (R1/2) in agreement with Local Group (LG) dwarfs (dynamical mass versus R1/2 and stellar rotation also resemble observations). The lowest mass UFDs are below surface brightness limits of current surveys but are potentially visible in next-generation surveys (e.g. LSST). The stellar metallicities are lower than in LG dwarfs; this may reflect pre-enrichment of the LG by the massive hosts or Pop-III stars. Consistency with lower resolution studies implies that our simulations are numerically robust (for a given physical model).

We present a suite of FIRE-2 cosmological zoom-in simulations of isolated field dwarf galaxies, all with masses of Mhalo ≈ 1010 M at z = 0, across a range of dark matter models. For the first time, we compare how both self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) and/or warm dark matter (WDM) models affect the assembly histories as well as the central density structure in fully hydrodynamical simulations of dwarfs. Dwarfs with smaller stellar half-mass radii (r1/2 < 500 pc) have lower σ/Vmax ratios, reinforcing the idea that smaller dwarfs may reside in haloes that are more massive than is naively expected. The majority of dwarfs simulated with self-interactions actually experience contraction of their inner density profiles with the addition of baryons relative to the cores produced in dark-matter-only runs, though the simulated dwarfs are always less centrally dense than in CDM. The V1/2–r1/2 relation across all simulations is generally consistent with observations of Local Field dwarfs, though compact objects such as Tucana provide a unique challenge. Overall, the inclusion of baryons substantially reduces any distinct signatures of dark matter physics in the observable properties of dwarf galaxies. Spatially resolved rotation curves in the central regions (

We explore the radial variation of star formation histories (SFHs) in dwarf galaxies simulated with Feedback In Realistic Environments (FIRE) physics. The sample contains 26 field dwarf galaxies with Mstar = 105–109 M. We find age gradients are common in our dwarfs, with older stars dominant at large radii. The strength of the gradient correlates with overall galaxy age such that earlier star formation produces a more pronounced gradient. The relation between formation time and strength of the gradient is driven by both mergers and star formation feedback. Mergers can both steepen and flatten the age gradient depending on the timing of the merger and SFHs of the merging galaxy. In galaxies without significant mergers, feedback pushes stars to the outskirts. The strength of the age gradient is determined by the subsequent evolution of the galaxy. Galaxies with weak age gradients constantly grow to z = 0, meaning that young star formation occurs at a similar radius to which older stars are heated to. In contrast, galaxies with strong age gradients tend to maintain a constant half-mass radius over time. If real galaxies have age gradients as we predict, stellar population studies that rely on sampling a limited fraction of a galaxy can give a biased view of its global SFH. Central fields can be biased young by Gyrs while outer fields are biased old. Fields positioned near the 2D half-light radius will provide the least biased measure of a dwarf galaxy’s global SFH.

Within lambda cold dark matter (CDM), dwarf galaxies like the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) are expected to host numerous dark matter subhaloes, several of which should host faint dwarf companions. Recent Gaia proper motions confirm new members of the LMC system in addition to the previously known SMC, including two classical dwarf galaxies (M∗ > 105 M; Carina and Fornax) as well as several ultrafaint dwarfs (Car2, Car3, Hor1, and Hyd1). We use the Feedback In Realistic Environments (FIRE) simulations to study the dark and luminous (down to ultrafaint masses, M∗ ∼6×103 M) substructure population of isolated LMC-mass hosts (M200m = 1–3×1011 M) and place the Gaia + DES results in a cosmological context. By comparing number counts of subhaloes in simulations with and without baryons, we find that, within 0.2 r200m, LMC-mass hosts deplete ∼30 per cent of their substructure, significantly lower than the ∼70 per cent of substructure depleted by Milky Way (MW) mass hosts. For our highest resolution runs (mbary = 880 M), ∼ 5–10 subhaloes form galaxies with M∗ ≥ 104 M , in agreement with the seven observationally inferred pre-infall LMC companions. However, we find steeper simulated luminosity functions than observed, hinting at observation incompleteness at the faint end. The predicted DM content for classical satellites in FIRE agrees with observed estimates for Carina and Fornax, supporting the case for an LMC association. We predict that tidal stripping within the LMC potential lowers the inner dark matter density of ultrafaint companions of the LMC. Thus, in addition to their orbital consistency, the low densities of dwarfs Car2, Hyd1, and Hyd2 reinforce their likelihood of Magellanic association.

We study star formation histories (SFHs) of 500 dwarf galaxies (stellar mass M∗ = 105–109 M) from FIRE-2 cosmological zoom-in simulations. We compare dwarfs around individual Milky Way (MW)-mass galaxies, dwarfs in Local Group (LG)-like environments, and true field (i.e. isolated) dwarf galaxies. We reproduce observed trends wherein higher mass dwarfs quench later (if at all), regardless of environment. We also identify differences between the environments, both in terms of ‘satellite versus central’ and ‘LG versus individual MW versus isolated dwarf central.’ Around the individual MW-mass hosts, we recover the result expected from environmental quenching: central galaxies in the ‘near field’ have more extended SFHs than their satellite counterparts, with the former more closely resemble isolated (true field) dwarfs (though near-field centrals are still somewhat earlier forming). However, this difference is muted in the LG-like environments, where both near-field centrals and satellites have similar SFHs, which resemble satellites of single MW-mass hosts. This distinction is strongest for M∗ = 106–107 M but exists at other masses. Our results suggest that the paired halo nature of the LG may regulate star formation in dwarf galaxies even beyond the virial radii of the MW and Andromeda. Caution is needed when comparing zoom-in simulations targeting isolated dwarf galaxies against observed dwarf galaxies in the LG.

We present a new set of high-resolution hydrodynamic cosmological zoom-in simulations that apply the Feedback In Realistic Environments physics to both Local Group (LG)-like and isolated MilkyWay (MW)-like volumes (10 host systems in total with a baryonic particle mass ≃3500-7000M⊙).We study the stellar mass functions, circular velocity or mass profiles, and velocity dispersions of the dwarf galaxy populations. The simulations reproduce the stellar mass function and central densities ofMWsatellite dwarfs forM∗≥105.5M⊙ and predict the existence of ∼3 unidentified galaxies with M∗∼ 105M⊙ within 300 kpc of the MW. Overall, we find no evidence for the classical missing satellites or too-big-to-fail (TBTF) problems for satellite galaxies in our sample. Among the satellites, TBTF is resolved primarily by subhalo disruption and overall mass-loss; central density profiles of subhaloes are of secondary importance. For non-satellite galaxies, our LG-like simulations predict as many as ∼10 as-ofyet unseen galaxies at distances 0.3-1Mpc from both hosts, with M∗≃ 105-6M⊙ (in haloes with Vmax ∼ 20 km s-1), albeit with large halo-to-halo variance. None of our simulations produces a compact, baryon-dominated, high-density dwarf elliptical-type galaxy (with Vcirc ≳ 35 km s-1 at r < 1 kpc), of which six may appear in the LG (but none in the MW). It may therefore remain a challenge to reproduce the full diversity of the dwarf population, including both the highest and lowest density systems.

We study the impact of a warm dark matter (WDM) cosmology on dwarf galaxy formation through a suite of cosmological hydrodynamical zoom-in simulations of Mhalo ≈ 1010 M dark matter haloes as part of the Feedback in Realistic Environments (FIRE) project. A main focus of this paper is to evaluate the combined effects of dark matter physics and stellar feedback on the well-known small-scale issues found in cold dark matter (CDM) models. We find that the z = 0 stellar mass of a galaxy is strongly correlated with the central density of its host dark matter halo at the time of formation, zf, in both CDM and WDM models. WDM haloes follow the same M(z = 0)–Vmax(zf) relation as in CDM, but they form later, are less centrally dense, and therefore contain galaxies that are less massive than their CDM counterparts. As a result, the impact of baryonic effects on the central gravitational potential is typically diminished relative to CDM. However, the combination of delayed formation in WDM and energy input from stellar feedback results in dark matter profiles with lower overall densities. The WDM galaxies studied here have a wider diversity of star formation histories (SFHs) than the same systems simulated in CDM, and the two lowest M WDM galaxies form all of their stars at late times. The discovery of young ultrafaint dwarf galaxies with no ancient star formation – which do not exist in our CDM simulations – would therefore provide evidence in support of WDM.

We investigate the merger histories of isolated dwarf galaxies based on a suite of 15 highresolution cosmological zoom-in simulations, all with masses of Mhalo ≈ 1010M⊙ (and M* ~ 105 - 107M⊙) at z= 0, from the Feedback in Realistic Environments project. The stellar populations of these dwarf galaxies at z= 0 are formed essentially entirely 'in situ': over 90 per cent of the stellar mass is formed in the main progenitor in all but two cases, and all 15 of the galaxies have > 70 per cent of their stellar mass formed in situ. Virtually all galaxy mergers occur prior to z~ 3, meaning that accreted stellar populations are ancient. On average, our simulated dwarfs undergo five galaxy mergers in their lifetimes, with typical pre-merger galaxy mass ratios that are less than 1:10. This merger frequency is generally comparable to what has been found in dissipationless simulations when coupled with abundance matching. Two of the simulated dwarfs have a luminous satellite companion at z= 0. These ultra-faint dwarfs lie at or below current detectability thresholds but are intriguing targets for nextgeneration facilities. The small contribution of accreted stars makes it extremely difficult to discern the effects of mergers in the vast majority of dwarfs either photometrically or using resolved-star colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs). The important implication for near-field cosmology is that star formation histories (SFHs) of comparably massive galaxies derived from resolved CMDs should trace the build-up of stellar mass in one main system across cosmic time as opposed to reflecting the contributions of many individual SFHs of merged dwarfs.

We study the z = 0 gas kinematics, morphology and angular momentum content of isolated galaxies in a suite of cosmological zoom-in simulations from the FIRE project spanning Mstar = 106-11M⊙. Gas becomes increasingly rotationally supported with increasing galaxy mass. In the lowest mass galaxies (Mstar < 108M⊙), gas fails to form a morphological disc and is primarily dispersion and pressure supported. At intermediate masses (Mstar = 108-10M⊙), galaxies display a wide range of gas kinematics and morphologies, from thin, rotating discs to irregular spheroids with negligible net rotation. All the high-mass (Mstar = 1010-11M⊙) galaxies form rotationally supported gas discs. Many of the haloes whose galaxies fail to form discs harbour high angular momentum gas in their circumgalactic medium. The ratio of the specific angular momentum of gas in the central galaxy to that of the dark matter halo increases significantly with galaxy mass, from 〈jgas〉/〈jDM〉 ~ 0.1 at Mstar = 106-7M⊙ to 〈jgas〉/〈jDM〉 ~ 2 at Mstar = 1010-11M⊙. The reduced rotational support in the lowest mass galaxies owes to (a) stellar feedback and the UV background suppressing the accretion of high angular momentum gas at late times, and (b) stellar feedback driving large non-circular gas motions. We broadly reproduce the observed scaling relations between galaxy mass, gas rotation velocity, size and angular momentum, but may somewhat underpredict the incidence of disky, high angular momentum galaxies at the lowest observed masses (Mstar = (106- 2 × 107) M⊙). Stars form preferentially from low angular momentum gas near the galactic centre and are less rotationally supported than gas. The common assumption that stars follow the same rotation curve as gas thus substantially overestimates the simulated galaxies' stellar angular momentum, particularly at low masses.

We present a suite of 15 cosmological zoom-in simulations of isolated dark matter haloes, all with masses of Mhalo ≈ 1010M⊙ at z = 0, in order to understand the relationship among halo assembly, galaxy formation and feedback's effects on the central density structure in dwarf galaxies. These simulations are part of the Feedback in Realistic Environments (FIRE) project and are performed at extremely high resolution (mbaryon = 500M⊙, mdm = 2500M⊙). The resultant galaxies have stellar masses that are consistent with rough abundance matching estimates, coinciding with the faintest galaxies that can be seen beyond the virial radius of the Milky Way (M*/M⊙ ≈ 105 - 107). This non-negligible spread in stellar mass at z = 0 in haloes within a narrow range of virial masses is strongly correlated with central halo density or maximum circular velocity Vmax, both of which are tightly linked to halo formation time. Much of this dependence of M* on a second parameter (beyond Mhalo) is a direct consequence of the Mhalo ~ 1010M⊙ mass scale coinciding with the threshold for strong reionization suppression: the densest, earliest-forming haloes remain above the UV-suppression scale throughout their histories while late-forming systems fall below the UV-suppression scale over longer periods and form fewer stars as a result. In fact, the latest-forming, lowest-concentration halo in our suite fails to form any stars. Haloes that form galaxies with M ≳ 2 × 106 M⊙ have reduced central densities relative to dark-matter-only simulations, and the radial extent of the density modifications is well-approximated by the galaxy half-mass radius r1/2. Lower-mass galaxies do not modify their host dark matter haloes at the mass scale studied here. This apparent stellar mass threshold of M ≈ 2 × 106-2 × 10-4 Mhalo is broadly consistent with previous work and provides a testable prediction of FIRE feedback models in Λcold dark matter.

Dwarf galaxies are known to have remarkably low star formation efficiency due to strong feedback. Adopting the dwarf galaxies of the Milky Way (MW) as a laboratory, we explore a flexible semi-analytic galaxy formation model to understand how the feedback processes shape the satellite galaxies of the MW. Using Markov Chain Monte Carlo, we exhaustively search a large parameter space of the model and rigorously show that the general wisdom of strong outflows as the primary feedback mechanism cannot simultaneously explain the stellar mass function and the mass-metallicity relation of the MW satellites. An extended model that assumes that a fraction of baryons is prevented from collapsing into low-mass halos in the first place can be accurately constrained to simultaneously reproduce those observations. The inference suggests that two different physical mechanisms are needed to explain the two different data sets. In particular, moderate outflows with weak halo mass dependence are needed to explain the mass-metallicity relation, and prevention of baryons falling into shallow gravitational potentials of low-mass halos (e.g., "pre-heating") is needed to explain the low stellar mass fraction for a given subhalo mass.

We constrain the evolution of the galaxy stellar mass function from 2 2 × 105M⊙ at z = 0). The most recent studies from ZFOURGE and CANDELS also suggest flatter faint end slopes that are consistent with our results, but with a lower degree of precision. This work illustrates the strong connections between low and high-z observations when viewed through the lens of lambda cold dark matter numerical simulations.

We present multiple ultrahigh resolution cosmological hydrodynamic simulations of M* ≃ 104-6.3 M⊙ dwarf galaxies that form within two Mvir = 109.5-10 M⊙ dark matter halo initial conditions. Our simulations rely on the Feedback in Realistic Environments (FIRE) implementation of star formation feedback and were run with high enough force and mass resolution to directly resolve structure on the ~200 pc scales. The resultant galaxies sit on the M* versus Mvir relation required to match the Local Group stellar mass function via abundance matching. They have bursty star formation histories and also form with half-light radii and metallicities that broadly match those observed for local dwarfs at the same stellar mass. We demonstrate that it is possible to create a large (~1 kpc) constant-density dark matter core in a cosmological simulation of an M* ≃ 106.3 M⊙ dwarf galaxy within a typical Mvir = 1010 M⊙ halo - precisely the scale of interest for resolving the 'too big to fail' problem. However, these large cores are not ubiquitous and appear to correlate closely with the star formation histories of the dwarfs: dark matter cores are largest in systems that form their stars late (z ≲ 2), after the early epoch of cusp building mergers has ended. Our M* ≃ 104 M⊙ dwarf retains a cuspy dark matter halo density profile that matches that of a dark-matter-only run of the same system. Though ancient, most of the stars in our ultrafaint form after reionization; the ultraviolet field acts mainly to suppress fresh gas accretion, not to boil away gas that is already present in the protodwarf.

We compare the dynamics of satellite galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to simple models in order to test the hypothesis that a large fraction of satellites corotate in coherent planes. We confirm the previously reported excess of corotating satellite pairs located near diametric opposition with respect to their host, but show that this signal is unlikely to be due to rotating discs (or planes) of satellites. In particular, no overabundance of corotating satellites pairs is observed within ~20°-50° of direct opposition, as would be expected for planar distributions inclined relative to the line of sight. Instead, the excess corotation for satellite pairs within ~10° of opposition is consistent with random noise associated with undersampling of an underlying isotropic velocity distribution. Based upon the observed dynamics of the luminous satellite population, we conclude that at most 10 per cent of isolated hosts harbour corotating satellite planes (as traced by bright satellites).

Using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we examine the quenching of satellite galaxies around isolated Milky Way-like hosts in the local Universe. We find that the efficiency of satellite quenching around isolated galaxies is low and roughly constant over two orders of magnitude in satellite stellar mass (M* = 108.5-1010.5M), with only ~20 per cent of systems quenched as a result of environmental processes. While largely independent of satellite stellar mass, satellite quenching does exhibit clear dependence on the properties of the host. We show that satellites of passive hosts are substantially more likely to be quenched than those of star-forming hosts, and we present evidence that more massive haloes quench their satellites more efficiently. These results extend trends seen previously in more massive host haloes and for higher satellite masses. Taken together, it appears that galaxies with stellar masses larger than about 108M are uniformly resistant to environmental quenching, with the relative harshness of the host environment likely serving as the primary driver of satellite quenching. At lower stellarmasses (

We present Feedback in Realistic Environment (FIRE)/GIZMO hydrodynamic zoom-in simulations of isolated dark matter haloes, two each at the mass of classical dwarf galaxies (Mvir ≃ 1010 M o˙) and ultra-faint galaxies (Mvir ≃ 109 M o˙), and with two feedback implementations. The resulting central galaxies lie on an extrapolated abundance matching relation from M* ≃ 106 to 104 M o˙ without a break. Every host is filled with subhaloes, many of which form stars. Each of our dwarfs with M* ≃ 106 M o˙ has 1-2 well-resolved satellites with M* = 3-200 × 103 M o˙. Even our isolated ultra-faint galaxies have star-forming subhaloes. If this is representative, dwarf galaxies throughout the Universe should commonly host tiny satellite galaxies of their own. We combine our results with the Exploring the Local Volume in Simulations (ELVIS) simulations to show that targeting ~50 kpc regions around nearby isolated dwarfs could increase the chances of discovering ultra-faint galaxies by ~35 per cent compared to random pointings, and specifically identify the region around the Phoenix dwarf galaxy as a good potential target. The well-resolved ultra-faint galaxies in our simulations (M* ≃ 3-30 × 103 M o˙) form within Mpeak ≃ 0.5-3 × 109 M o˙ haloes. Each has a uniformly ancient stellar population (>10 Gyr) owing to reionization-related quenching. More massive systems, in contrast, all have late-time star formation. Our results suggest that Mhalo ≃ 5 × 109 M o˙ is a probable dividing line between haloes hosting reionization 'fossils' and those hosting dwarfs that can continue to form stars in isolation after reionization.

We measured velocities of 862 individual red giant stars in seven isolated dwarf galaxies in the Local Group: NGC 6822, IC 1613, VV 124 (UGC 4879), the Pegasus dwarf irregular galaxy (DDO 16), Leo A, Cetus and Aquarius (DDO 210). We also computed velocity dispersions, taking into account the measurement uncertainties on individual stars. None of the isolated galaxies is denser than the densest Local Group satellite galaxy. Furthermore, the isolated dwarf galaxies have no obvious distinction in the velocity dispersion-half-light radius plane from the satellite galaxies of the Milky Way and M31. The similarity of the isolated and satellite galaxies dynamics and structural parameters imposes limitations on environmental solutions to the too big to fail problem, wherein there are fewer dense dwarf satellite galaxies than would be expected from cold dark matter simulations. This data set also has many other applications for dwarf galaxy evolution, including the transformation of dwarf irregular into dwarf spheroidal galaxies. We intend to explore these issues in future work. © 2014 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.

We study dwarf satellite galaxy quenching using observations from the Geha et al. NASASloan Atlas/SDSS catalogue together with {n-ary logical and} cold dark matter cosmological simulations to facilitate selection and interpretation. We show that fewer than 30 per cent of dwarfs (M* ≃ 108.5-9.5M⊙) identified as satellites within massive host haloes (Mhost ≃ 1012.5-14M⊙) are quenched, in spite of the expectation from simulations that half of them should have been accreted more than 6 Gyr ago. We conclude that whatever the action triggering environmental quenching of dwarf satellites, the process must be highly inefficient. We investigate a series of simple, one-parameter quenching models in order to understand what is required to explain the low quenched fraction and conclude that either the quenching time-scale is very long (>9.5Gyr, a 'slow starvation' scenario) or that the environmental trigger is not well matched to accretion within the virial volume. We discuss these results in light of the fact that most of the low-mass dwarf satellites in the Local Group are quenched, a seeming contradiction that could point to a characteristic mass scale for satellite quenching. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.

We examine the star formation properties of bright (~0.1 L*) satellites around isolated ~L* hosts in the local Universe using spectroscopically confirmed systems in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7. Our selection method is carefully designed with the aid of Nbody simulations to avoid groups and clusters. We find that satellites are significantly more likely to be quenched than a stellarmass-matched sample of isolated galaxies. Remarkably, this quenching occurs only for satellites of hosts that are themselves quenched: while star formation is unaffected in the satellites of star-forming hosts, satellites around quiescent hosts are more than twice as likely to be quenched than stellar-mass-matched field samples. One implication of this is that whatever shuts down star formation in isolated, passive L* galaxies also play at least an indirect role in quenching star formation in their bright satellites. The previously reported tendency for 'galactic conformity' in colour/morphology may be a by-product of this host-specific quenching dichotomy. The Sérsic indices of quenched satellites are statistically identical to those of field galaxies with the same specific star formation rates, suggesting that environmental and secular quenching give rise to the same morphological structure. By studying the distribution of pairwise velocities between the hosts and satellites, we find dynamical evidence that passive host galaxies reside in dark matter haloes that are~45 per cent more massive than those of star-forming host galaxies of the same stellar mass.We emphasize that even around passive hosts, the mere fact that galaxies become satellites does not typically result in star formation quenching: we find that only ~30 per cent of ~0.1L* galaxies that fall in from the field are quenched around passive hosts, compared with ~0 per cent around star-forming hosts. © 2013 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.

As the Milky Way and its satellite system become more entrenched in near field cosmology efforts, the need for an accurate mass estimate of the Milky Way's dark matter halo is increasingly critical. With the second and early third data releases of stellar proper motions from Gaia , several groups calculated full 6D phase-space information for the population of Milky Way satellite galaxies. Utilizing these data in comparison to subhalo properties drawn from the Phat ELVIS simulations, we constrain the Milky Way dark matter halo mass to be ∼1–1.2 × 1012 M⊙. We find that the kinematics of subhaloes drawn from more- or less-massive hosts (i.e. >1.2 × 1012 M⊙ or <1012 M⊙) are inconsistent, at the 3σ confidence level, with the observed velocities of the Milky Way satellites. The preferred host halo mass for the Milky Way is largely insensitive to the exclusion of systems associated with the Large Magellanic Cloud, changes in galaxy formation thresholds, and variations in observational completeness. As more Milky Way satellites are discovered, their velocities (radial, tangential, and total) plus Galactocentric distances will provide further insight into the mass of the Milky Way dark matter halo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The predominantly ancient stellar populations observed in the lowest mass galaxies (i.e. ultra-faint dwarfs) suggest that their star formation was suppressed by reionization. Most of the well-studied ultra-faint dwarfs, however, are within the central half of the Milky Way dark matter halo, such that they are consistent with a population that was accreted at early times and thus potentially quenched via environmental processes. To study the potential role of environment in suppressing star formation on the smallest scales, we utilize the Exploring the Local Volume in Simulations suite of N -body simulations to constrain the distribution of infall times for low-mass subhaloes likely to host the ultra-faint population. For the ultra-faint satellites of the Milky Way with star formation histories inferred from Hubble Space Telescope imaging, we find that environment is highly unlikely to play a dominant role in quenching their star formation. Even when including the potential effects of pre-processing, there is a |${\lesssim } 0.1{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| probability that environmental processes quenched all of the known ultra-faint dwarfs early enough to explain their observed star formation histories. Instead, we argue for a mass floor in the effectiveness of satellite quenching at roughly |${M}_{\star }\sim 10^{5}\, {\rm M}_{\odot }$|⁠, below which star formation in surviving galaxies is globally suppressed by reionization. We predict a large population of quenched ultra-faint dwarfs in the Local Field (1 < R / R vir < 2), with as many as ∼250 to be discovered by future wide-field imaging surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]