Related papers: The Intergalactic Medium
We use Gamma-ray burst (GRB) spectra total continuum absorption to estimate the key intergalactic medium (IGM) properties of hydrogen column density ($\mathit{N}\textsc{hxigm}$), metallicity, temperature and ionisation parameter over a…
While most galaxies live in group environments where they undergo an accelerated evolution, the characteristics of their circumgalactic medium (CGM) remain uncertain. We present an analysis of the CGM of two galaxy groups in different…
We present results on the heating of the inter-cluster medium (ICM) by gravitational potential energy from in-falling satellites. We calculate the available excess energy of baryons once they are stripped from their satellite and added to…
We derive analytic lower bounds on the cosmic baryon density by requiring that the high-redshift IGM contain enough neutral hydrogen to produce the observed \lya absorption in quasar spectra. The key theoretical assumption is that absorbing…
Galaxy evolution is thought to be driven in large part by the flow of gas between galaxies and the circumgalactic medium (CGM), a halo of metal-enriched gas extending out to $\gtrsim100$ kpc from each galaxy. Studying the spatial structure…
Dwarf galaxies are by far the most numerous galaxies in the Universe, showing properties that are quite different from those of their larger and more luminous cousins. This review focuses on the physical and chemical properties of the…
Observational studies indicate that the intergalactic medium (IGM) is highly ionized up to redshifts just over 6. A number of models have been developed to describe the process of reionization and the effects of the ionizing photons from…
This review covers four current questions in the behavior of the atomic and molecular interstellar medium. These include whether the atomic gas originates primarily in cold streams or hot flows onto galaxies; what the filling factor of cold…
Numerical simulations indicate that the smooth, photoionized intergalactic medium (IGM) responsible for the low column density Lyman-alpha forest follows a well defined temperature-density relation. We show that such an equation of state…
Galaxies are surrounded by sizeable gas reservoirs which host a significant amount of metals: the circum-galactic medium (CGM). The CGM acts as a mediator between the galaxy and the extra-galactic medium. However, our understanding of how…
The galaxy-IGM part of the Lyman-break survey currently consists of measured redshifts for more than 1000 galaxies with redshift 1.5<z<3.5 along the sightlines to 25 background QSOs. One of the goals of the survey was to measure the…
Outflows from quasars inevitably pollute the intergalactic medium (IGM) with magnetic fields. The short-lived activity of a quasar leaves behind an expanding magnetized bubble in the IGM. We model the expansion of the remnant quasar bubbles…
The universe is filled with a diffuse and isotropic extragalactic background of gamma-ray radiation, containing roughly equal energy flux per decade in photon energy between 3 MeV-100 GeV. The origin of this background is one of the…
We summarise the science cases for an ELT that were presented in the parallel session on the intergalactic medium, and the open discussion that followed the formal presentations. Observations of the IGM with an ELT provides tremendous…
We perform the first measurement of the thermal and ionization state of the intergalactic medium (IGM) across 0.9 < z < 1.5 using 301 \lya absorption lines fitted from 12 HST STIS quasar spectra, with a total pathlength of \Delta z=2.1. We…
Most of the visible matter in the Universe is in a plasma state, or more specifically is composed of ionized or partially ionized gas permeated by magnetic fields. Thanks to recent advances on the theory and detection of cosmic magnetic…
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…
This paper examines how the circumgalactic medium (CGM) evolves as a function of time by comparing results from different absorption-line surveys that have been conducted in the vicinities of galaxies at different redshifts. Despite very…
Forming a three dimensional view of the Universe is a long-standing goal of astronomical observations, and one that becomes increasingly difficult at high redshift. In this paper we discuss how tomography of the intergalactic medium (IGM)…
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…