Related papers: Absorption studies of the most diffuse gas in the …
The importance of HST for the study of quasar absorption lines and of the nature of the intergalactic medium is illustrated by reviewing selected results from past HST observations. Topics reviewed include the study of Ly-alpha absorbers at…
Observations of $z \gtrsim 6$ quasars provide information on the early phases of the most massive black holes (MBHs) and galaxies. Current observations at sub-mm wavelengths trace cold and warm gas, and future observations will extend…
With high resolution (0.46kpc/h), adaptive mesh-refinement Eulerian cosmological hydrodynamic simulations we compute properties of O VI and O VII absorbers from the warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM). Our new simulations are in broad…
It has been known for decades that the observed number of baryons in the local universe falls about 30-40% short of the total number of baryons predicted by Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis, as inferred from density fluctuations of the Cosmic…
We searched for redshifted O emission lines from the possible warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM) surrounding the cluster of galaxies A2218 at z=0.1756 using the XIS instrument on Suzaku. This cluster is thought to have an elongated…
About 30-50% of the baryons in the local Universe are unaccounted for and are likely in a hot phase, 10^5.5-10^8 K. A hot halo (10^6.3 K) is detected around the Milky Way through the O VII and O VIII resonance absorption and emission lines…
We present new wideband radio observations with the Australia Telescope Compact Array of a sample of 12 giant radio galaxies. The radio observations are part of a larger radio-optical study aimed at relating the radio structures with the…
The circumgalactic medium (CGM) around galaxies is believed to record various forms of galaxy feedback and contain a significant portion of the "missing baryons" of individual dark matter halos. However, clear observational evidence for the…
Cosmological simulations predict that a significant fraction of the low-$z$ baryon budget resides in large-scale filaments in the form of a diffuse plasma at temperatures $T \sim 10^{5} - 10^{7}$ K. However, direct observation of this…
When and how did galaxies form and their metals accumulate? Over the last decade, this has moved from an archeological question to a live investigation: there is now a broad picture of the evolution of galaxies in dark matter halos: their…
We analyze the intracluster medium (ICM) and circumgalactic medium (CGM) in 7 X-ray detected galaxy clusters using spectra of background QSOs (HST-COS/STIS), optical spectroscopy of the cluster galaxies (MMT/Hectospec and SDSS), and X-ray…
High resolution rest frame UV quasar absorption spectra covering low and high ionization species, as well as the Lyman series lines, provide remarkably detailed information about the gaseous phases of galaxies and their environments. For…
I review studies of the hot gaseous medium in and around nearby normal disk galaxies, including the Milky Way. This medium represents a reservoir of materials required for lasting star formation, a depository of galactic feedback (e.g.,…
We describe our surveys of low column density Lyman-alpha absorbers [N(HI) = 10^(12.5-16.0) cm^-2], which show that the warm photoionized IGM contains 30% of all baryons at z < 0.1. This fraction is consistent with cosmological simulations,…
High-resolution UV spectroscopy of low-z QSOs with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph and the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer has indicated that O VI absorption-line systems provide a valuable probe of the low-z intergalactic…
The properties of circum-galactic gas in the halo of quasar host galaxies are investigated analyzing Mg II 2800 and C IV 1540 absorption-line systems along the line of sight close to quasars. We used optical spectroscopy of closely aligned…
The intergalactic medium (IGM) is the dominant reservoir of baryons, delineates the large scale structure at low to moderate overdensities, and provides gas from which galaxies form and evolve. Simulations of a Cold Dark Matter (CDM)…
The correlation of weak lensing and Cosmic Microwave Anisotropy (CMB) data traces the pressure distribution of the hot, ionized gas and the underlying matter density field. The measured correlation is dominated by baryons residing in halos.…
The study of the interstellar medium (ISM) in the X-rays has entered a golden age with the advent of the X-ray observatories XMM-Newton and Chandra. High-energy resolution allowed to study dust spectroscopic features with unprecedented…
Recent highly sensitive detections of line emission from extended gas in the local universe demonstrate the feasibility of detecting H$\alpha$ emitting galactic halos out to $z\sim1$. We determine the form of the surface brightness vs.…