ARRAKIHS: The observability of tidally stripped satellites in a Milky Way-like halo

Current and forthcoming deep imaging surveys are revealing an increasing number of low surface brightness stellar streams around Milky Way-like galaxies. These streams encode information about the orbital evolution and internal structure of their disrupted dwarf galaxy progenitors. We investigate the dynamical evolution and observability of tidal features produced by dwarf galaxies consistent with the cosmological constant and cold dark matter ((Λ)CDM) framework and observations of Local Group satellites. We performed high-resolution N-body simulations of dwarf galaxies orbiting within a static Milky Way-like potential comprising a disc, a bulge, and a dark matter halo. Each dwarf comprised two collisionless components: a Plummer stellar distribution embedded in a cuspy or cored generalised Navarro--Frenk--White dark matter halo. Idealised integrated surface brightness maps were constructed from simulation outputs every (0.5, ) over (10, ), and detectability was quantified through the projected area of progenitor stellar light brighter than a range of limiting surface brightnesses, (μ_ =29)--(32, ), chosen to span depths relevant to the Analysis of Resolved Remnants of Accreted galaxies as a Key Instrument for Halo Surveys (ARRAKIHS), the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), and . The detectability of tidal features depends most strongly on progenitor stellar mass, orbital configuration, parameterised by the eccentricity proxy (e_0), and evolutionary stage. Over the surface brightness range explored, extended tidal debris is predominantly recovered for initially more radial configurations, mainly those with (e_0 ≳ 0.75). In the simulated grid, detectable area is dominated by (M_⋆=10^8)--(10^9,M_⊙) progenitors, whereas (M_⋆=10^6)--(10^7,M_⊙) systems can undergo stripping without detectable debris. The detectable area evolves non-monotonically with time, reflecting the competition between stream formation, phase mixing, and the fading of diffuse debris below the adopted surface brightness limits. Cuspy and cored progenitors show similar evolution of the detectable area, with differences generally smaller than the scatter induced by orbital diversity. Gyr Gyr ̊m lim -2 Euclid