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We study the evolution of dark matter satellites orbiting inside more massive haloes using semi-analytical tools coupled with high-resolution N-Body simulations. We select initial satellite sizes, masses, orbital energies, and eccentricities as predicted by hierarchical models of structure formation. Both the satellite (of initial mass Ms,0) and the main halo (of mass Mh) are described by a Navarro, Frenk White density profile with various concentrations. We explore the interplay between dynamical friction and tidal mass loss/evaporation in determining the final fate of the satellite. We provide a userfriendly expression for the dynamical friction timescale τdf,live and for the disruption time for a live (i.e. mass losing) satellite.This can be easily implemented into existing semi-analitycal models of galaxy formation improving considerably the way they describe the evolution of satellites. Massive satellites (Ms,0 0.1Mh) starting from typical cosmological orbits sink rapidly (irrespective of the initial circularity) toward the center of the main halo where
Taffoni et al. (Thu,) studied this question.