Cosmological Origin of Satellites around Isolated Dwarf Galaxies

We trace the cosmological origin of satellites around isolated dwarf galaxies using a very high resolution (12 pc/h) cosmological hydrodynamic zoom simulation. To realistically describe the formation and evolution of small-mass stellar satellites, our model includes a full baryonic physics treatment. We find that the mini-halos form objects resembling dwarf galaxies. The majority of their star forming gas is accreted after reionization, thus the survival of a mini-halo's gas to reionization is not an important factor. Instead, the key factor seems to be the ability for a mini-halo to cool its recently accreted gas, which is more efficient in more massive halos. Although the host galaxy is only a dwarf galaxy itself, we find that ram pressure is an efficient means by which accreted mini-halos lose their gas content, both by interacting with hot halo gas but also in direct collisions with the gas disk of the host. The satellites are also disrupted by the tidal forces near the center of the host galaxy. Compared to the disrupted satellites, surviving satellites are relatively more massive, but tend to infall later into the host galaxy, thus reducing the time they are subjected to destructive environmental mechanisms and dynamical friction.