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Title:
The Luminosity Function of the Milky Way Satellites
Authors:
Koposov, S.; Belokurov, V.; Evans, N. W.; Hewett, P. C.; Irwin, M. J.; Gilmore, G.; Zucker, D. B.; Rix, H.-W.; Fellhauer, M.; Bell, E. F.; Glushkova, E. V.
Affiliation:
AA(Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.; Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK; , , .), AB(Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK; , , .), AC(Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK; , , .), AD(Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK; , , .), AE(Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK; , , .), AF(Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK; , , .), AG(Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK; , , .), AH(Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.), AI(Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK; , , .), AJ(Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.), AK(Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Universitetskiy prospect, 13, 119992, Moscow, Russia.)
Publication:
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 686, Issue 1, pp. 279-291. (ApJ Homepage)
Publication Date:
10/2008
Origin:
UCP
ApJ Keywords:
Galaxy: Formation, Galaxy: Halo, Galaxy: Structure, Galaxies: Local Group
DOI:
10.1086/589911
Bibliographic Code:
2008ApJ...686..279K

Abstract

We quantify the detectability of stellar Milky Way satellites in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 5. We show that the effective search volumes for the recently discovered SDSS satellites depend strongly on their luminosity, with their maximum distance, Dmax, substantially smaller than the Milky Way halo's virial radius. Calculating the maximum accessible volume, Vmax, for all faint detected satellites allows the calculation of the luminosity function for Milky Way satellite galaxies, accounting quantitatively for their detectability. We find that the number density of satellite galaxies continues to rise toward low luminosities, but may flatten at MV~-5 within the uncertainties, the luminosity function can be described by a single power law dN/dMV=10×100.1(MV+5), spanning luminosities from MV=-2 all the way to the luminosity of the Large Magellanic Cloud. In comparing these results to several semianalytic galaxy formation models, we find that their predictions differ significantly from the data: either the shape of the luminosity function or the model's surface brightness distribution does not match.
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