LOW-MASS SUPPRESSION OF THE SATELLITE LUMINOSITY FUNCTION DUE TO THE SUPERSONIC BARYON-COLD-DARK-MATTER RELATIVE VELOCITY

摘要

We study the effect of the supersonic baryon-cold-dark-matter (CDM) flow, which has recently been shown to have a large effect on structure formation during the dark ages 10 z 1000, on the abundance of luminous, low-mass satellite galaxies around galaxies like the Milky Way. As the supersonic baryon-CDM flow significantly suppresses both the number of halos formed and the amount of baryons accreted onto such halos of masses 106 M halo/M ☉ 108 at z 10, a large effect results on the stellar luminosity function before reionization. As halos of these masses are believed to have very little star formation after reionization due to the effects of photoheating by the ultraviolet background, this effect persists to the present day. We calculate that the number of low-mass 106 M halo/M ☉ 5 × 107 halos that host luminous satellite galaxies today is typically suppressed by 50%, with values ranging up to 90% in regions where the initial supersonic velocity is high. We show that this previously ignored cosmological effect resolves some of the tension between the observed and predicted number of low-mass satellites in the Milky Way, reducing the need for other mass-dependent star-formation suppression before reionization.