Cited by 214Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, PhenomenaCosmology and Gravitation TheoriesStellar, planetary, and galactic studies

The apostle project: Local Group kinematic mass constraints and simulation candidate selection

Open access
Fattahi, Azadeh, Navarro, Julio F., Sawala, Till, Frenk, Carlos S., Oman, Kyle A., Crain, Robert A., Furlong, Michelle, Schaller, Matthieu +3 more·2016·Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Abstract

We use a large sample of isolated dark matter halo pairs drawn from cosmological N-body simulations to identify candidate systems whose kinematics match that of the Local Group (LG) of galaxies. We find, in agreement with the ‘timing argument’ and earlier work, that the separation and approach velocity of the Milky Way (MW) and Andromeda (M31) galaxies favour a total mass for the pair of ∼5 × 1012 M⊙. A mass this large, however, is difficult to reconcile with the small relative tangential velocity of the pair, as well as with the small deceleration from the Hubble flow observed for the most distant LG members. Halo pairs that match these three criteria have average masses a factor of ∼2 times smaller than suggested by the timing argument, but with large dispersion. Guided by these results, we have selected 12 halo pairs with total mass in the range 1.6–3.6 × 1012 M⊙ for the apostle project (A Project Of Simulating The Local Environment), a suite of hydrodynamical resimulations at various numerical resolution levels (reaching up to ∼104 M⊙ per gas particle) that use the subgrid physics developed for the eagle project. These simulations reproduce, by construction, the main kinematics of the MW–M31 pair, and produce satellite populations whose overall number, luminosities, and kinematics are in good agreement with observations of the MW and M31 companions. The apostle candidate systems thus provide an excellent testbed to confront directly many of the predictions of the Λ cold dark matter cosmology with observations of our local Universe.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1093/mnras/stv2970

Cites

74 of 74 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • APOSTLE is a suite of 12 pairs of MW-mass haloes selected to resemble the Local Group in mass, separation, relative velocity and local environment.

    “APOSTLE is a suite of 12 pairs of MW-mass haloes selected to resemble the Local Group in terms of mass, separation, relative velocity and local environment”

    From The milky way total mass profile as inferred from Gaia DR2 (2020) · cites this paper as Fattahi et al. 2016

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Kravtsov A., Vikhlinin A., Meshscheryakov A., 2014, ApJ, preprint (arXiv:1401.7329) · arXiv

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Fattahi, A., Navarro, J. F., Sawala, T., Frenk, C. S., Oman, K. A., Crain, R. A., Furlong, M., Schaller, M., Schaye, J., Theuns, T., & Jenkins, A.
Affiliations
  • University of Victoria (CA)
  • University of Helsinki (FI)
  • Durham University (GB)
  • Liverpool John Moores University (GB)
  • Leiden University (NL)
Corresponding author
Fattahi, Azadeh
Venue
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Published
2016-01-27
Volume
457
Issue
1
Pages
844-856
ISSN
  • 0035-8711 (ISSN-L)
  • 1365-2966
OpenAlex
W1505073781
Cited by
214
References
73
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 27 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 2
FWCI
12.74
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (publishedVersion)
  • Durham Research Online (Durham University) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (acceptedVersion)
  • Liverpool John Moores University (acceptedVersion)
  • Durham Research Online (Durham University) (acceptedVersion)
  • Leiden Repository (Leiden University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Leiden Repository (Leiden University) (submittedVersion)
  • Durham Research Online (Durham University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Työväentutkimus Vuosikirja (submittedVersion)
  • HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • arXiv (Cornell University)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation (ST/K003267/1, ST/H008519/1, FP7/2007-2013, ST/K00042X/1, 1066293)
  • Aspen Center for Physics (1066293, PHYS-1066293)
  • Compute Canada
  • Western Canada Research Grid
  • Leverhulme Trust (FP7/2007-2013)
  • European Commission (278594, 2007–2013, FP7 2007-2013, FP7/2007)
  • Durham University (ST/K00087X/1, ST/K00042X/1, ST/K003267/1, ST/H008519/1)
  • Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (AP P7/08 CHARM)
  • University of California, Santa Barbara (PHY11-25915)
  • Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/H008519, ST/K00042X/1, ST/I00162X/1, PHYS-1066293, ST/ K00087X/1, FP7/2007-2013, ST/J001465/1, ST/M007006/1, ST/F001166/1, ST/H008519/1, ST/K003267/1)
  • Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara (PHY-11-25915)
  • FP7 Ideas: European Research Council (267291)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Cosmology and Gravitation Theories
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
Keywords
Local Group, timing argument, EAGLE project

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review