TY - JOUR
T1 - The distribution of satellite galaxies
AU - Lorrimer, Stephen J.
AU - Frenk, Carlos S.
AU - Smith, Rodney M.
AU - White, Simon D.M.
AU - Zaritsky, Dennis
N1 - Funding Information:
We gratefully acknowledge Mike Irwin for providing the APM scan data, and Steve Phillipps and Richard Bower for useful discussions. SJL acknowledges receipt of an SERC studentship. CSF acknowledges a Sir Derman Christo-pherson Fellowship. This work was supported by SERC research grants. DZ acknowledges support from NASA (grant HF-1027.01-91A through STScI, operated by AURA Inc, under NASA contract NAS5-26555).
Publisher Copyright:
© Royal Astronomical Society.
PY - 1994
Y1 - 1994
N2 - We carry out a statistical analysis of the distribution of faint satellites around galaxies of differing Hubble type. Following Holmberg, we count the number of faint images on Schmidt survey plates around primaries of known redshift. Our procedure leads to a highly significant detection of the satellites. On average, the projected distance of these systems from their primaries is distributed as Σ (rp) ∝r-γp with γ~0.9. The satellite populations around primaries of different Hubble type are significantly different: satellites are more concentrated around early-type primaries, with a higher absolute abundance within ∼0.25h-1 Mpc.1 If we assume a standard 'field' luminosity function, we find that galaxies with -18<5<-172 are about three times more weakly clustered to their primaries than are bright galaxies at separations of order 1 Mpc. At fainter magnitudes, the clustering appears stronger, suggesting the presence of a new population of dwarfs which exist only in close association with bright galaxies.
AB - We carry out a statistical analysis of the distribution of faint satellites around galaxies of differing Hubble type. Following Holmberg, we count the number of faint images on Schmidt survey plates around primaries of known redshift. Our procedure leads to a highly significant detection of the satellites. On average, the projected distance of these systems from their primaries is distributed as Σ (rp) ∝r-γp with γ~0.9. The satellite populations around primaries of different Hubble type are significantly different: satellites are more concentrated around early-type primaries, with a higher absolute abundance within ∼0.25h-1 Mpc.1 If we assume a standard 'field' luminosity function, we find that galaxies with -18<5<-172 are about three times more weakly clustered to their primaries than are bright galaxies at separations of order 1 Mpc. At fainter magnitudes, the clustering appears stronger, suggesting the presence of a new population of dwarfs which exist only in close association with bright galaxies.
KW - Clustering - galaxies
KW - Fundamental parameters - galaxies
KW - Galaxies
KW - Kinematics and dynamics - galaxies
KW - Luminosity function, mass function
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U2 - 10.1093/mnras/269.3.696
DO - 10.1093/mnras/269.3.696
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0039831221
VL - 269
SP - 696
EP - 706
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
SN - 0035-8711
IS - 3
ER -