Related papers: The evolution of a pre-heated Intergalactic Medium
We simulate the evolution of the intergalactic medium (IGM) in a universe dominated by a cosmological constant. We find that within a few Hubble times from the present epoch, the baryons will have two primary phases: one phase composed of…
A definite prediction from recent N-body/hydro simulations of the structure formation of the universe is the presence of a diffuse intergalactic medium (IGM) in a temperature range of 10^5 - 10^7 K. This hot phase of the IGM may account for…
The thermal state of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at z < 6 constrains the nature and timing of cosmic reionization events, but its inference from the Ly-alpha forest is degenerate with the 3-D structure of the IGM on ~100 kpc scales,…
The intergalactic medium (IGM) prior to the epoch of reionization consists mostly of neutral hydrogen gas. Ly-alpha photons produced by early stars resonantly scatter off hydrogen atoms, causing energy exchange between the radiation field…
The thermal history and structure of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at $z \geq 4$ is an important boundary condition for reionization, and a key input for studies using the Ly$\alpha$ forest to constrain the masses of alternative dark…
The bulk of cosmic matter resides in a dilute reservoir that fills the space between galaxies, the intergalactic medium (IGM). The history of this reservoir is intimately tied to the cosmic histories of structure formation, star formation,…
We constrain the H I photoionization rate $(\Gamma_{\rm HI})$ at $z \lesssim 0.45$ by comparing the flux probability distribution function and power spectrum of the Ly-$\alpha$ forest data along 82 QSO sightlines obtained using Cosmic…
We examine the thermodynamic state and cooling of the low-$z$ Circum-Galactic Medium (CGM) in five FIRE-2 galaxy formation simulations of Milky Way-mass galaxies. We find that the CGM in these simulations is generally multiphase and…
The reionization of helium is thought to occur at $2.5\lesssim z\lesssim4$, marking the last phase transition and final global heating event of the intergalactic medium (IGM). Since it is driven by rare quasars, helium reionization should…
We introduce a new set of large scale, high resolution hydrodynamical simulations of the intergalactic medium: the Sherwood simulation suite. These are performed in volumes 10^3-160^3 h^-3 comoving Mpc^{3}, span almost four orders of…
In the low density intergalactic medium (IGM) that gives rise to the Lyman-alpha forest, gas temperature and density are tightly correlated. The velocity scale of thermal broadening and the Hubble flow across the gas Jeans scale are of…
Quasar spectra provide a unique opportunity to investigate the intergalactic medium at high redshifts. The spectral analysis of the Ly$\alpha$ forest allows us to constrain the effective equation of state of the intergalactic medium and its…
The large cross-section of the Lyman alpha (Lya) line makes it a sensitive probe of the ionization state of the intergalactic medium (IGM). Here we present the most complete study to date of the IGM Lya opacity, and its application to the…
The evolution of the temperature in the intergalactic medium is related to the reionization of hydrogen and helium, and has important consequences for our understanding of the Lya forest and of galaxy formation in gravitational models of…
We present new measurements of the thermal state of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at $z\sim2.4$ derived from absorption line profiles in the Ly$\alpha$ forest. We use a large set of high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations to calibrate…
The thermal evolution of the intergalactic medium (IGM) can serve as a sensitive probe of cosmological heat sources and sinks. We employ it to limit interactions between dark matter and baryons. After reionization the IGM temperature is set…
We investigate the properties of the intracluster medium (ICM) that forms within N-body/hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy clusters in a \LambdaCDM cosmology. When radiative cooling and a simple model for galactic feedback are included,…
We use the probability distribution function (PDF) of the lya forest flux at z=2-3, measured from high-resolution UVES/VLT data, and hydrodynamical simulations to obtain constraints on cosmological parameters and the thermal state of the…
The number of detected baryons in the Universe at z<0.5 is much smaller than predicted by standard big bang nucleosynthesis and by the detailed observation of the Lyman alpha forest at red-shift z=2. Hydrodynamical simulations indicate that…
The failure of purely gravitational models of X-ray cluster formation to reproduce basic observed properties of the local cluster population suggests the need for one or more additional physical processes operating on the intracluster…