Search for Ultra-faint Dwarfs in the Halo of M60, Giant Elliptical Galaxy in Virgo

One of the well-known problems in the lambda cold dark matter (${\Lambda}CDM$) models is a missing satellite problem. The slope of the mass function of low mass galaxies predicted by ${\Lambda}CDM$ models is much steeper than that based on the luminosity function of dwarf galaxies in the local universe. This implies that the model prediction is an overestimate of low mass galaxies, or that the current census of dwarf galaxies in the local universe may be an underestimate of dwarf galaxies. Previous studies of galaxy luminosity functions to address this problem are based mostly on the sample of galaxies brighter than Mv ~ -10 in the nearby galaxies. In this study we try to search for ultra-faint galaxies (UFDs), which are much fainter than those in the previous studies. We use multi-field HST ACS images of M60 in the archive. M60 is a giant elliptical galaxy located in the east part of the Virgo cluster, and hosts a large population of globular clusters and UCDs. Little is known about the dwarf galaxies in this galaxy. UFDs are much fainter, much smaller, and have lower surface brightness than normal dwarf galaxies so HST images of massive galaxies are an ideal resource. We present preliminary results of this search.