Abstract
We present a preview of the faint dwarf galaxy discoveries that will be
possible with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam in the
next decade. In this work, we combine deep ground-based images from the
Panoramic Imaging Survey of Centaurus and Sculptor (PISCeS) and extensive image
simulations to investigate the recovery of faint, resolved dwarf galaxies in
the Local Volume with a matched-filter technique. We adopt three fiducial
distances - 1.5, 3.5, 5 Mpc, and quantitatively evaluate the effects on dwarf
detection of varied stellar backgrounds, ellipticity, and Milky Way foreground
contamination and extinction. We show that our matched-filter method is
powerful for identifying both compact and extended systems, and near-future
surveys will be able to probe at least ~4.5 mag below the tip of the red giant
branch (TRGB) for a distance of up to 1.5 Mpc, and ~2 mag below the TRGB at 5
Mpc. This will push the discovery frontier for resolved dwarf galaxies to
fainter magnitudes, lower surface brightnesses, and larger distances. Our
simulations show the secure census of dwarf galaxies down to
$M_V$$\approx$-5, -7, -8, will be soon within reach, out to 1.5 Mpc, 3.5 Mpc,
and 5 Mpc, respectively, allowing us to quantify the statistical fluctuations
in satellite abundances around hosts, and parse environmental effects as a
function of host properties.
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