Related papers: Where the Baryons Are
The missing baryon problem may now be resolved, but the exact location and physical properties of the diffuse component remains unclear. This problem could be tractable, but requires the combination of new galaxy redshift surveys with new…
Understanding how galaxies obtain baryons, their stars and gas, over cosmic time is traditionally approached in two different ways - theoretically and observationally. In general, observational approaches to galaxy formation include…
Elliptical galaxies and their groups having the largest L_x/L_B lie close to the locus in the L_x,L_B diagram expected for closed systems with baryon fractions equal to the cosmic mean value, f_b = 0.16. The estimated baryon fractions for…
Within the context of hot big-bang cosmology, a cosmic background of presently low energy neutrinos is predicted to exist in concert with the photons of the cosmic background radiation. The number density of the cosmological neutrinos is of…
Most of the baryons from galaxies have been "missing" and several studies have attempted to map the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of galaxies in their quest. Recent studies with the Hubble Space Telescope have shown that many galaxies contain…
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…
There is increasing evidence that the universe is dominated by dark energy of the type given by an invariant cosmological constant. Latest data also indicates that fundamental interaction couplings and particle masses have remained…
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…
The evidence is that the mass of the universe is dominated by an exotic nonbaryonic form of matter largely draped around the galaxies. It approximates an initially low pressure gas of particles that interact only with gravity, but we know…
Microlensed double-image quasars have sent a consistent message that the baryonic dark matter consists of a population of free-roaming planet mass objects, as summarized previously. These were previously predicted to have formed at the time…
We summarize and reanalyze observations bearing upon missing galactic baryons, where we propose a consistent picture for halo gas in L >~ L* galaxies. The hot X-ray emitting halos are detected to 50-70 kpc, where typically, M_hot(<50 kpc) ~…
Direct observations of the supposedly universal primordial deuterium abundance imply a relatively large baryon density $\Omega_B= (0.019-0.030)h^{-2}$ (95% C.L.). On the other hand, concordance between the previously accepted $^4 He$ and…
Galaxy groups and poor clusters are more common than rich clusters, and host the largest fraction of matter content in the Universe. Hence, their studies are key to understand the gravitational and thermal evolution of the bulk of the…
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…
The census of heavy elements (metals) produced by all stars through cosmic times up to present-day is limited to ~50%; of these only half are still found within their parent galaxy. The majority of metals is expelled from galaxies into the…
The evidence for the existence of dark matter in the universe is reviewed. A general picture emerges, where both baryonic and non-baryonic dark matter is needed to explain current observations. In particular, a wealth of observational…
We investigate the large-scale clustering and gravitational interaction of baryons and dark matter (DM) over cosmic time using a set of collisionless N-body simulations. Both components, baryons and DM, are evolved from distinct primordial…
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,…
The dominant baryonic component of galaxy clusters is hot gas whose distribution is commonly probed through X-ray emission arising from thermal bremsstrahlung. The density profile thus obtained has been traditionally modeled with a…
Because of their deep gravitational potential wells, clusters of galaxies retain all the metals produced by the stellar populations of the member galaxies. Most of these metals reside in the hot plasma which dominates the baryon content of…