Related papers: Lost Baryons at Low Redshift
We review the current high-significance X-ray detections of Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium (WHIM) filaments at z>0 along the lines of sight to the two blazars Mrk 421 (z=0.03) and 1ES 1028+511 (z=0.361). For these WHIM filaments, we derive…
Over the last several decades, extensive research has been conducted on the baryon cycles within cosmic structures, encompassing a broad mass range from dwarf galaxies to galaxy clusters. However, a notable gap in understanding the cosmic…
The observational and theoretical status of the search for missing cosmological baryons is summarized, with a discussion of some indirect methods of detection. The thermal interpretation of the cluster soft X-ray and EUV excess phenomenon…
Almost a third of the cosmic baryons are "missing" at low redshifts, as they reside in the invisible warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM). The thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) effect, which measures the line-of-sight integral of the plasma…
Simulations predict that shocks from large-scale structure formation and galactic winds have reduced the fraction of baryons in the warm, photoionized phase (the Lya forest) from nearly 100% in the early universe to less than 50% today.…
There is a growing consensus that in the present universe most baryons reside in galaxy clusters and groups in the form of highly ionized gas at temperatures of 10^6 ~ 10^8 K. The H-like and He-like ions of the heavy elements can produce…
The Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium (WHIM) arises from shock-heated gas collapsing in large-scale filaments and probably harbours a substantial fraction of the baryons in the local Universe. Absorption-line measurements in the ultraviolet…
We search for highly-ionized gas near three AGN host galaxies using the Chandra low-energy transmission grating spectrograph. Strong absorption lines from such gas are seen at z=0, most likely from one or more of the following components:…
Numerical simulations of the intergalactic medium have shown that at the present epoch a significant fraction (40-50%) of the baryonic component should be found in the (T~10^6K) Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium (WHIM) - with several recent…
Several popular cosmological models predict that most of the baryonic mass in the local universe is located in filamentary and sheet-like structures associated with galaxy overdensities. This gas is expected to be gravitationally heated to…
New, high resolution, large-scale, cosmological hydrodynamic galaxy formation simulations of a standard cold dark matter model (with a cosmological constant) are utilized to predict the distribution of baryons at the present and at moderate…
We use numerical simulations of structure formation in a Cold Dark Matter model to predict the absorption lines in the soft X-rays produced by heavy elements in the shock-heated intergalactic medium at low redshift. The simulation…
Most of the baryons in the local universe are ``missing'' in that they are not in galaxies or in the previously detected gaseous phases. These missing baryons are predicted to be in a moderately hot phase, 10^5-10^7 K, largely in the form…
Aims: The enigma of the missing baryons poses a prominent and unresolved problem in astronomy. Dispersion measures (DM) serve as a distinctive observable of fast radio bursts (FRBs). They quantify the electron column density along each line…
Most of cosmic baryons predicted by the big-bang nucleosynthesis has evaded the direct detection. Recent numerical simulations indicate that approximately 30 to 50 percent of the total baryons in the present universe is supposed to take a…
We have conducted pointed redshift surveys for galaxies in the direction of bright AGN whose HST far-UV spectra contain nearby (cz <~ 30,000 kms), low column density (12.5 <= log N_{HI} (cm s^{-2}) <= 14.5) Ly-alpha forest absorption…
There is increasing observational evidence that hot, highly ionized interstellar and intergalactic gas plays a significant role in the evolution of galaxies in the local universe. The primary spectral diagnostics of the warm-hot…
We assess the possibility to detect and characterize the physical state of the missing baryons at low redshift by analyzing the X-ray absorption spectra of the Gamma Ray Burst [GRB] afterglows, measured by a micro calorimeters-based…
The missing baryon problem is one of the major unsolved problems in astronomy. Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are bright millisecond pulses with unknown origins. The dispersion measure of FRBs is defined as the electron column density along the…
I present a review by epoch of baryons in the intergalactic medium (IGM), from the first star until today. Recent observations indicate a protracted period of reionization, suggesting multiple populations of reionizers; detection of these…