Publication Date

8-10-2025

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Astrophysical Journal

Volume

989

Issue

1

DOI

10.3847/1538-4357/ade9b8

Abstract

We report the results of the deepest search to date for dwarf galaxies around NGC 3109, a barred spiral galaxy with a mass similar to that of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), using a semiautomated search method. Using the Dark Energy Camera, we survey a region covering a projected distance of ∼70 kpc of NGC 3109 (D = 1.3 Mpc, Rvir ∼ 90 kpc, M ∼ 108M*) as part of the MADCASH and DELVE-DEEP programs. We introduce a newly developed semiresolved search method, used alongside a resolved search, to identify crowded dwarf galaxies around NGC 3109. Using both approaches, we successfully recover the known satellites Antlia and Antlia B. We identified a promising candidate, which was later confirmed to be a background dwarf through deep follow-up observations. Our detection limits are well defined, with the sample ∼80% complete down to MV ∼ −8.0, and include detections of dwarf galaxies as faint as MV ∼ −6.0. This is the first comprehensive study of a satellite system through resolved stars around an SMC mass host. Our results show that NGC 3109 has more bright (MV ∼ −9.0) satellites than the mean predictions from cold dark matter models, but well within the host-to-host scatter. A larger sample of LMC/SMC-mass hosts is needed to test whether or not the observations are consistent with current model expectations.

Funding Number

AST-2008110

Funding Sponsor

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Comments

Amandine Doliva-Dolinsky, Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil, Denija Crnojević, Dhayaa Anbajagane, Jeffrey L. Carlin, Jonah Medoff, David J. Sand, Erik Tollerud, Sungsoon Lim, Paul Bennet, Alex Drlica-Wagner, Catherine E. Fielder, Jonathan R. Hargis, Kai Herron, Laura Congreve Hunter, Michael G. Jones, Ananthan Karunakaran, Annika H. G. Peter, Aaron J. Romanowsky, Kristine Spekkens, Jay Strader, Beth Willman, Julio A. Carballo-Bello, William Cerny, Astha Chaturvedi, Nitya Kallivayalil, Clara E. Martínez-Vázquez, Gustavo E. Medina, Noelia E. D. Noël, Andrew B. Pace, Alex H. Riley, Joanna D. Sakowska, Adam Smercina, Kathy Vivas27, Monika Adamów, Clecio R. Bom, Yumi Choi, Peter S. Ferguson, Mahdieh Navabi, and Alfredo Zenteno

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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