Satellite galaxies in cosmological dark matter halos

Abstract

We present preliminary results from a series of high-resolution N-body simulations that focus on 8 dark matter halos each of order a million particles within the virial radius. We follow the time evolution of hundreds of individually tracked satellite galaxies and relate their physical properties to the differing halo environmental conditions. Our main science driver is to understand how satellite galaxies lose their mass and react to tidal stripping. Unlike previous work our results are performed in a fully self-consistent cosmological context. The preliminary results demonstrate that while environment may vary considerably with respects to formation time and richness of substructure, the satellites evolve similarly.