Can cosmological simulations capture the diverse satellite populations
  of observed Milky Way analogues?
  The recent advent of deep observational surveys of local Milky Way
`analogues' and their satellite populations allows us to place the Milky Way in
a broader cosmological context and to test models of galaxy formation on small
scales. In the present study, we use the LCDM-based ARTEMIS suite of
cosmological hydrodynamical simulations containing 45 Milky Way analogue host
haloes to make comparisons to the observed satellite luminosity functions,
radial distribution functions, and abundance scaling relations from the recent
Local Volume and SAGA observational surveys, in addition to the Milky Way and
M31. We find that, contrary to some previous claims, LCDM-based simulations can
successfully and simultaneously capture the mean trends and the diversity in
both the observed luminosity and radial distribution functions of Milky Way
analogues once important observational selection criteria are factored in.
Furthermore, we show that, at fixed halo mass, the concentration of the
simulated satellite radial distribution is partly set by that of the underlying
smooth dark matter halo, although stochasticity due to the finite number of
satellites is the dominant driver of scatter in the radial distribution of
satellites at fixed halo mass.
