New insights on the dynamics of satellite galaxies: Effects of the figure rotation of a host galaxy

Abstract We investigate a mechanism to form and keep a planar spatial distribution of satellite galaxies in the Milky Way (MW), which is called the satellite plane. It has been pointed out that the ΛCDM cosmological model hardly explains the existence of such a satellite plane, so it is regarded as one of the serious problems in the current cosmology. We here focus on a rotation of the gravitational potential of a host galaxy, i.e., a so-called figure rotation, following the previous suggestion that this effect can induce the tilt of a so-called tube orbit. Our calculation shows that a figure rotation of a triaxial potential forms a stable orbital plane perpendicular to the rotational axis of the potential. Thus, it is suggested that the MW’s dark halo is rotating with its axis being around the normal line of the satellite plane. Additionally, we find that a small velocity dispersion of satellites is required to keep the flatness of the planar structure, namely the standard derivation of their velocities perpendicular to the satellite plane needs to be smaller than their mean rotational velocity on the plane. Although not all the MW’s satellites satisfy this condition, a fraction of them, called member satellites, which are prominently on the plane, do satisfy it. We suggest that this picture explaining the observed satellite plane can be achieved by the filamentary accretion of dark matter associated with the formation of the MW and a group infall of member satellites along this cosmic filament.