Analysis of the plane of satellites around Milky Way- mass galaxies in the IllustrisTNG simulation

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ID: 326316
2026
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Abstract
Abstract It has been suggested that the Plane of Satellites (PoS) phenomenon may imply a tension with current ΛCDM cosmology since a Milky Way (MW)-like PoS is very rare in simulations. In this study, we analyze a large sample of satellite systems of MW- mass galaxies identified within the IllustrisTNG simulations. We analyze their spatial aspect ratio, orbital pole dispersion, Gini coefficient, radial distribution, and bulk satellite velocity relative to the host galaxy. These are compared to properties of the observed Milky Way PoS. We identified galaxy samples in two virial mass ranges (0.1 − 0.8 × 1012 M⊙ and 0.8 − 3.0 × 1012 M⊙). We find for both mass ranges that only ~ 1 percent of MW-like galaxies contain a PoS similar to that of the MW. Nevertheless, these outliers occur naturally in ΛCDM cosmology. We analyze the formation, environment, and evolution of the PoS for nine systems that are most MW-like in the TNG50 simulation. By using a new analysis of the local large scale structure surrounding the satellite systems, we suggest that a PoS can form from one or more of at least five different processes. Moreover, consistent with the SAGA DR3 results, we find that about 1/3 of the identified systems contain a recent infall of a LMC and/or a SMC like system. We find a tendency for about half of the satellites to have recently arrived at z < 0.2, indicating that a MW-like PoS is a recent and transient phenomenon.
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Authors Xinghai Zhao, Guobao Tang, Paola Gonzalez, Grant J Mathews, L. A. Phillips
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Journal monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/mnras/stag1583
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stag1583
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