The Distribution of Satellites Around Central Galaxies in a Cosmological
  Hydrodynamical Simulation
  Observations have shown that the spatial distribution of satellite galaxies
is not random, but rather is aligned with the major axes of central galaxies
(CGs). The strength of the alignment is dependent on the properties of both the
satellites and centrals. Theoretical studies using dissipationless N-body
simulations are limited by their inability to directly predict the shape of
CGs. Using hydrodynamical simulations including gas cooling, star formation,
and feedback, we carry out a study of galaxy alignment and its dependence on
the galaxy properties predicted directly from the simulations.We found that the
observed alignment signal is well produced, as is the color dependence: red
satellites and red centrals both show stronger alignments than their blue
counterparts. The reason for the stronger alignment of red satellites is that
most of them stay in the inner region of the dark matter halo where the shape
of the CG better traces the dark matter distribution. The dependence of
alignment on the color of CGs arises from the halo mass dependence, since the
alignment between the shape of the central stellar component and the inner halo
increases with halo mass. We also find that the alignment of satellites is most
strongly dependent on their metallicity, suggesting that the metallicity of
satellites, rather than color, is a better tracer of galaxy alignment on small
scales. This could be tested in future observational studies.
