Clues to the "Magellanic Galaxy" from Cosmological Simulations

Understand

We use cosmological simulations from the Aquarius Project to study the orbital history of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and its potential association with other satellites of the Milky Way (MW).

• We search for dynamical analogs to the LMC and find a subhalo that matches the LMC position and velocity at either of its two most recent pericentric passages.
• This suggests that the LMC is not necessarily on its first approach to the MW, provided that the virial mass of the Milky Way is M_200 ~1.8e12 M_sun.
• The simulation results yield specific predictions for the position and velocity of systems associated with the LMC prior to infall.