The Hot and Energetic Universe: The missing baryons and the warm-hot intergalactic medium
Abstract
The backbone of the large-scale structure of the Universe is determined by processes on a cosmological scale and by the gravitational interaction of the dominant dark matter. However, the mobile baryon population shapes the appearance of these structures. Theory predicts that most of the baryons reside in vast unvirialized filamentary structures that connect galaxy groups and clusters, but the observational evidence is currently lacking. Because the majority of the baryons are supposed to exist in a large-scale, hot and dilute gaseous phase, X-rays provide the ideal tool to progress our understanding. Observations with the Athena+ X-ray Integral Field Unit will reveal the location, chemical composition, physical state and dynamics of the active population of baryons.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1306.2324,
title = {The Hot and Energetic Universe: The missing baryons and the warm-hot intergalactic medium},
author = {Jelle Kaastra and Alexis Finoguenov and Fabrizio Nicastro and Enzo Branchini and Joop Schaye and Nico Cappelluti and Jukka Nevalainen and Xavier Barcons and Joel Bregman and Judith Croston and Klaus Dolag and Stefano Ettori and Massimiliano Galeazzi and Takaya Ohashi and Luigi Piro and Etienne Pointecouteau and Gabriel Pratt and Thomas Reiprich and Mauro Roncarelli and Jeremy Sanders and Yoh Takei and Eugenio Ursino},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1306.2324},
year = {2013}
}
Comments
Supporting paper for the science theme The Hot and Energetic Universe to be implemented by the Athena+ X-ray observatory (http://www.the-athena-x-ray-observatory.eu). 11 pages, 7 figures