Abstract
Using the spectroscopic and photometric catalogues of the Sloan Digital Sky
Survey (SDSS DR7), we have explored the satellite distribution around
$\sim$1000 massive (M$_\star$$\gtrsim$2$\times$10$^11$M$_ødot$) visually
classified elliptical galaxies down to a satellite mass ratio of 1:400 (i.e.
5$\times$$10^8$$łesssim$M$_sat$$łesssim$2$\times$10$^11$M$_ødot$). Our
host galaxies were selected to be representative of a mass complete sample. The
satellites of these galaxies were searched within a projected radial distance
of 100 kpc to their hosts. We have found that only 17-23% of the massive
ellipticals has at least a satellite down to a mass ratio 1:10. This number
increases to 40-52% if we explore satellites down to 1:100 and is $>$55-70% if
we go further down to 1:400. The average projected radial distance of the
satellites to their hosts is $\sim$59 kpc (which can be decreased down to 49-51
kpc if we account for incompleteness effects). The number of satellites per
galaxy host only increases very mildly at decreasing the satellite mass. The
fraction of mass which is contained in the satellites down to a mass ratio of
1:400 is 7.4% of the total mass contained by the hosts. Satellites with a mass
ratio from 1:2 to 1:5 (with $\sim$27% of the total mass of the satellites) are
the main contributor to the total satellite mass. If the satellites eventually
infall into the host galaxies, the merger channel will be largely dominated by
satellites with a mass ratio down to 1:10 (as these objects have 66% of the
total mass in satellites).
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