Related papers: The Cosmic Baryon Budget
The cosmic baryon budget is revisited using modern observations that have become available since our first publication. I also present an estimate for the heavy element abundance. An increased accuracy in the accounting of the baryon budget…
Recent Cosmological measurements indicate that baryons comprise about four percent of the total mass-energy density of the Universe, which is in accord with the predictions arising from studies of the production of the lightest elements. It…
The angular power spectrum and polarization of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), the relative abundances of primordial hydrogen, deuterium and helium isotopes, and the large-scale structure of the universe all indicate that…
In this white paper, we summarize current observations of the baryon census at low redshift (Shull, Smith, & Danforth 2012). Measurements of Lya, O-VI, and broad Lya absorbers, together with more careful corrections for metallicity and…
Stars and gas in galaxies, hot intracluster medium, and intergalactic photo-ionized gas make up at most half of the baryons that are expected to be present in the universe. The majority of baryons are still missing and are expected to be…
The recent constraints on the cosmological parameters put from the observations of the WMAP satellite limit the cosmic baryon fraction in a range that is larger than, and marginally consistent with, what is measured in galaxy clusters. This…
We reassess constraints on the cosmological baryon density from observations of the mean decrement and power spectrum of the Lyman-alpha forest, taking into account uncertainties in all free parameters in the simplest gravitational…
In the Big Bang about 5% of the mass that was created was in the form of normal baryonic matter (neutrons and protons). Of this about 10% ended up in galaxies in the form of stars or of gas (that can be in molecules, can be atomic, or can…
We determine the contribution of stars in galaxies, intracluster stars, and the intracluster medium to the total baryon budget in nearby galaxy clusters and groups. We find that the baryon mass fraction (f_b) within r500 is constant for…
The luminous material in clusters of galaxies falls primarily into two forms: the visible galaxies and the X-ray emitting intra-cluster medium. The hot intra-cluster gas is the major observed baryonic component of clusters, about six times…
We present predictions for the cosmic metal budget in various phases of baryons from redshift z=6-0, taken from a cosmological hydrodynamic simulation that includes a well-constrained model for enriched galactic outflows. We find that…
A fair and complete accounting of cosmic baryons now appears possible, because most of them are in states which are either directly observable or reliably constrained by indirect arguments. More than three-quarters of the baryons are…
We present a study of the hot gas and stellar content of 5 optically-selected poor galaxy clusters, including a full accounting of the contribution from intracluster light (ICL) and a combined hot gas and hydrostatic X-ray mass analysis…
Quasar absorption lines now permit a direct probe of deuterium abundances in primordial material, with the best current estimate $ (D/H)=1.9\pm 0.4 \times 10^{-4}$. If this is the universal primordial abundance $(D/H)_p$, Standard Big Bang…
Data from Type Ia supernovae, along with X-ray cluster estimates of the universal baryon fraction and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) determinations of the baryon-to-photon ratio, are used to provide estimates of several global cosmological…
(Abridged) The nonlinear evolution of a system consisting of baryons and dark matter is generally characterized by strong shocks and discontinuities. The baryons slow down significantly at postshock areas of gravitational strong shocks,…
We provide a complete census of the baryons in early galaxies to investigate the phases in which gas and stars reside, their corresponding budgets, depletion times, and stellar return fraction as a function of redshift and stellar age. We…
We show that the high local baryonic fraction, M(bar) ~ 1/3 M(tot), found in groups and clusters of galaxies does not reconcile the observed cosmological baryon density with the standard Big-Bang prediction. Taking into account recent…
Approximately half of the Universe's dark matter resides in collapsed halos; significantly less than half of the baryonic matter (protons and neutrons) remains confined to halos. A small fraction of baryons are in stars and the interstellar…
Characterizing the relationship between stars, gas, and metals in galaxies is a critical component of understanding the cosmic baryon cycle. We compile contemporary censuses of the baryons in collapsed structures, their chemical make-up and…