Forecasting the Resolvability of Stellar Velocity Dispersions in Ultra-faint Dwarf Galaxies

Abstract

Ultra-faint dwarf galaxies (UFDs)---the smallest and most dark-matter dominated galactic systems---push the boundaries of our understanding of galaxy formation in the cold dark matter paradigm. As current and near-future imaging surveys continue to expand the known population of extremely faint systems, spectroscopic resources have become a major limitation in our ability to understand the physical nature of these systems. We present projections for the capability of Keck/DEIMOS, Magellan/IMACS, and future spectroscopic instruments (e.g., Magellan/Via and GMT/GMACS) to kinematically distinguish dark-matter-dominated UFDs from dark-matter-free star clusters in the ultra-faint regime. We simulate ensembles of mock observations of ultra-faint dwarf galaxies and apply a formal statistical framework, calibrated to observations, to systematically characterize the ability to resolve velocity dispersions as a function of satellite properties. Our projections suggest that current instruments will struggle to resolve many of systems that will be discovered by the Rubin Observatory. Near future instruments will be capable of resolving a majority of these systems, though they will fail for the faintest and most distant systems. Ultimately, we will require even more advanced instruments, with enhanced stability and velocity precision, to classify the full population of ultra-faint Milky Way satellites.