Structural Evolution of Substructure

The evolution of substructure in dark matter halos is investigated in a series of simulations of N = 105 satellite halos on elliptical orbits in the gravitational potential of a much larger host system. The bound mass of the satellite decreases with each pericentric passage and most of the mass is lost from the outer region of the satellite halo. We parameterize the change in its density profile by modifying the initial profile by a factor proportional to (1 + r-3), which results in reasonable fits to the mass profiles of tidally stripped subhalos.