The dynamics of galaxy pairs in a cosmological setting

We use the Millennium Simulation, and an abundance matching framework, to investigate the dynamical behaviour of galaxy pairs embedded in a cosmological context. Our main galaxy-pair sample, selected to have separations r < 250 h(-1) kpc, consists of over 1.3 million pairs at redshift z = 0, with stellar masses greater than 10(10) M-circle dot, probing mass ratios down to 1:1000. We use dark matter halo membership and energy to classify our galaxy pairs. In terms of halo membership, central-satellite pairs tend to be in isolation (in relation to external more massive galaxies), are energetically bound to each other and are also weakly bound to a neighbouring massive galaxy. Satellite-satellite pairs, instead, inhabit regions in close proximity to a more massive galaxy, are energetically unbound and are often bound to that neighbour. We find that 60 per cent of our paired galaxies are bound to both their companion and to a third external object. Moreover, only 9 per cent of our pairs resemble the kind of systems described by idealized binary merger simulations in complete isolation. In sum, we demonstrate the importance of properly connecting galaxy pairs to the rest of the Universe.