M31 satellite masses compared to ΛCDM subhaloes

Abstract

We compare the kinematics of M31's satellite galaxies to the mass profiles of the subhaloes they are expected to inhabit in the Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmology. We consider the most massive subhaloes of an approximately M31-sized halo, following the assumption of a monotonic galaxy luminosity-to-subhalo mass mapping. While this abundance matching relation is consistent with the kinematic data for galaxies down to the luminosity of the bright satellites of the Milky Way and M31, it is not consistent with kinematic data for fainter dwarf galaxies (those with L ≲ 108 L⊙). Comparing the kinematics of M31's dwarf Spheroidal (dSph) satellites to the subhaloes reveals that M31's dSph satellites are too low density to be consistent with the subhaloes’ mass profiles. A similar discrepancy has been reported between Milky Way dSphs and their predicted subhaloes, the ‘too big to fail’ problem. By contrast, total mass profiles of the dwarf Elliptical (and similarly bright) satellites are consistent with the subhaloes. However, they suffer from large systematic uncertainties in their dark matter content because of substantial (and potentially dominant) contributions from baryons within their half-light radii.