Does the existence of a plane of satellites constrain properties of the
  Milky Way?
  According to the hierarchical model of galaxy formation underlying our
current understanding of cosmology, the Milky Way (MW) has continued to accrete
smaller-sized dwarf galaxies since its formation. Remnants of this process
surround the MW as debris streams and satellite galaxies, and provide
information that is complementary to studies of the Galaxy itself. The
satellite system thus has the potential to teach us about the formation and
evolution of the MW. Can the existence of a narrow, co-rotating plane of
satellite galaxies (the Vast Polar Structure, VPOS) put constraints on our
Galaxy's properties? Are such satellite galaxy planes more narrow around less
massive hosts, more abundant around more concentrated hosts, more kinematically
coherent around more early-forming halos? To address such questions, we have
looked for correlations between properties of satellite galaxy planes fitted to
cosmological simulations in the ELVIS suite and properties of their host dark
matter halos, while accounting for realistic observational biases such as the
obscuration by the disk of the MW. We find no evidence for strong correlations
that would allow conclusions on the host halo properties from the mere
existence of the VPOS around our Galaxy.
