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Clues to Dwarf galaxy Formation from Clustering and Kinematics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2005

James E. Taylor
Affiliation:
Astronomy Department, California Institute of technology, mc 105-24, 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125, USA email: [email protected]
Joe Silk
Affiliation:
Astrophysics, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3RH, UK email: [email protected]
Arif Babul
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria, Elliott Building, 3800 Finnerty Road, Victoria, B.C., V8P 1A1, Canada email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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If the CDM paradigm is correct, then dwarf galaxies are far rarer than dark matter haloes of comparable circular velocity at the present day. Some process or processes must suppress galaxy formation almost completely on these small scales. Several plausible mechanisms may explain the scarcity of dwarf galaxies in the local universe, but it has been hard to distinguish between the different models observationally. The spatial distribution and kinematics of dwarf galaxies contain additional information about the age and formation history of these systems. Interpreted in the CDM framework, they provide powerful new constraints on the physics of dwarf suppression, ruling out at high significance the simplest models, in which the halo occupation probability is constant above some fixed mass or velocity threshold. We describe recent tests of small-scale galaxy formation models using the satellites of the local group and other nearby groups, and discuss the implications of these results for studies of the stellar halo, sub-galactic dark matter and the reionization of the universe at high redshift.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
© 2005 International Astronomical Union