Satellite Alignment: III. Satellite Galaxies Spatial Distribution and their Dependence on Redshift with A Novel Galaxy Finder

Abstract

After extensively explored, broad agreement between observations and theories has been reached that satellites are preferentially aligned with major axes of their host centrals. There are still some issues unsolved on this topic. In this paper, we present studies on satellite spatial distribution. To fairly compare with observations, we develop a novel galaxy finder and reconstruction algorithm in hydrodynamical simulation, which is based on the projected mock image, taking into account the full consideration of the point spread function, pixel size, surface brightness limit, resolution and redshift dimming effects. With galaxy samples constructed using such an algorithm, the satellite alignment is examined by comparing with observational results. It is found that the observational alignment can be reproduced for red galaxies, which dominate the sample in this study, but not for blue galaxies. Satellites' radial distribution is also investigated. It exhibits that outer satellites within host halos show stronger alignment signal than satellites in the inner regions, especially for red satellites, which is in contrast with previous studies. The disagreement is mainly due to extra galaxies identified by our new galaxy finder, which are mainly located in the inner region of host halos. Our study illustrates that at lower redshift, the alignment strength becomes stronger, while radial distribution curve becomes flatter. This suggests differences in the evolution of the angular distribution between satellites residing in the inner and outer halos, and implies that the post-infall evolution reduces the original alignment signal, that the impact decreases for satellites with later infall times.