Abstract
In this paper we study the tidal stripping process for satellite galaxies
orbiting around a massive host galaxy, and focus on its dependence on the
morphology of both satellite and host galaxy. For this purpose, we use three
different morphologies for the satellites: pure disc, pure bulge and a mixture
bulge+disc. Two morphologies are used for the host galaxy: bulge+disc and pure
bulge. We find that while the spheroidal stellar component experience a
constant power-law like mass removal, the disc is exposed to an exponential
mass loss when the tidal radius of the satellites is of the same order of the
disc scale length. This dramatic mass loss is able to completely remove the
stellar component on time scale of 100 Myears. As a consequence two satellites
with the same stellar and dark matter masses, on the same orbit could either
retain 60% of their stellar mass after 10 Gyrs or being completely destroyed,
depending on their initial stellar morphology.We find that there are two
characteristic time scales describing the beginning and the end of the disc
removal, whose values are related to the size of the disc. This result can be
easily incorporated in semi-analytical model. We find that the host morphology
and the orbital parameters also have an effect on determining the mass removal,
but they are of secondary importance with respect to satellite morphology. We
conclude that satellite morphology has a very strong effect on the efficiency
of stellar stripping and should be taken into account in modeling galaxy
formation and evolution.
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