Satellite group infall into the Milky Way: Exploring the Crater-Leo case with new HST proper motions

Abstract

Context. Within Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) simulations, Milky Way-like galaxies accrete some of their satellite galaxies in groups of 3–5 members rather than individually, and this has been suggested as a possible mechanism driving the formation of satellite planes. Objects accreted in groups are expected to share similar specific total energy and angular momentum, and to also have identical orbital planes and directions. Aims. Looking at observatio ns of Milky Way satellites, the dwarf galaxies Leo II, IV, V, and Crater II, and the star cluster Crater 1 were proposed to be a vestige of group infall. The suggested ‘Crater-Leo group’ shows a coherent distance gradient and all these objects align along a great circle on the sky. We used proper motion data to investigate whether the phase-space distribution of the members of the proposed group are indeed consistent with group infall. Methods. To further investigate this possibility, we used Gaia Data Release 3 (DR3) and new Hubble Space Telescope (HST) proper motions – namely, (μα*, μδ) = (−0.1921 ± 0.0514, −0.0686 ± 0.0523) mas yr−1 for Leo IV and (μα*, μδ) = (0.1186 ± 0.1943, −0.1183 ± 0.1704) mas yr−1 for Leo V – to derive accurate orbital properties for the proposed group objects. In addition, we explored other possible members of this putative association. Results. Leo II, Leo IV, and Crater 1 show orbital properties consistent with those we predict from assuming group infall. However, our results suggest that Crater II was not accreted with the rest of the objects. If confirmed with increasingly accurate proper motions in the future, the Crater-Leo objects would appear to constitute the first identified case of a cosmologically expected, typical group infall event, as opposed to the highly hierarchical Magellanic Cloud system.