The baryon density at z=0.9-1.9 - Tracing the warm-hot intergalactic medium with broad Lyman alpha absorption
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We present an analysis of the Lyman alpha forests of five quasar spectra in the near UV. Properties of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at an intermediate redshift interval (0.9 < z < 1.9) are studied. The amount of baryons in the diffuse photoionised IGM and the warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM) are traced to get constraints on the redshift evolution of the different phases of the intergalactic gas. The baryon density of the diffuse IGM is determined with photoionisation calculations under the assumption of local hydrostatic equilibrium. We assume that the gas is ionised by a metagalactic background radiation with a Haardt & Madau (2001) spectrum. The WHIM is traced with broad Lyman alpha (BLA) absorption. The properties of a number of BLA detections are studied. Under the assumption of collisional ionisation equilibrium a lower limit to the baryon density could be estimated. It is found that the diffuse photoionised IGM contains at least 25% of the total baryonic matter at redshifts 1 < z < 2. For the WHIM a lower limit of 2.4% could be determined. Furthermore the data indicates that the intergalactic gas is in a state of evolution at z=1.5. We confirm that a considerable part of the WHIM is created between z=1 and z=2.Keywords:
Lyman-alpha forest
Lyman limit
We use FUSE and STIS spectra to study intergalactic absorption towards the quasar PG1259+593 (z=0.478). We identify 135 intergalactic absorption lines with equivalent widths >10mA, tracing 78 absorption components in 72 Ly alpha/beta absorption-line systems. We concentrate on the distribution and physical properties of the WHIM as sampled by OVI and intrinsically broad Ly alpha lines. The number of intervening OVI absorbers for equivalent widths W>24 mA is 3-6 over an unobscured redshift path of dz=0.368. This implies a number density of OVI systems, dN/dz, of ~8-16 along this sight line. This range is consistent with estimates from other sight lines, supporting the idea that intervening intergalactic OVI absorbers contain an substantial fraction of the baryonic mass in the low-redshift Universe. We identify a number of broad Ly alpha absorbers with large Doppler parameters (b~40-200 km/s) and low column densities (N(HI)<10^14 cm^-2). For pure thermal broadening, these widths correspond to temperatures of ~1x10^5 to 3x10^6 K. While these broad absorbers could be caused by blends of multiple, unresolved lines, continuum undulations, or by kinematic flows and Hubble broadening, we consider the possibility that some of these features are single-component, thermally broadened Ly alpha lines. These systems could represent WHIM absorbers that are too weak, too metal-poor, and/or too hot to be detected in OVI. If so, their widths and their frequency in the PG1259+593 spectrum imply that these absorbers trace an even larger fraction of the baryons in the low-redshift Universe than the OVI absorbing systems (abridged version).
Lyman limit
Spectral resolution
Equivalent width
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Aims. We present an analysis of the Lyman a forests of five quasar spectra in the near UV. Properties of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at an intermediate redshift interval (0.9 ≤ z ≤1.9) are studied. The amount of baryons in the diffuse photoionised IGM and the warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM) are traced to get constraints on the redshift evolution of the different phases of the intergalactic gas. Methods. The baryon density of the diffuse IGM is determined with photoionisation calculations under the assumption of local hydrostatic equilibrium. We assume that the gas is ionised by a metagalactic background radiation with a Haardt & Madau (2001, Clusters of Galaxies and the High Redshift Universe Observed in X-rays) spectrum. The WHIM is traced with broad Lyman α (BLA) absorption. The properties of a number of BLA detections are studied. Under the assumption of collisional ionisation equilibrium a lower limit to the baryon density could be estimated. Results. It is found that the diffuse photoionised IGM contains at least ∼25% of the total baryonic matter at redshifts 1 ≤ z ≤ 2. For the WHIM a lower limit of ∼2.4% could be determined. Furthermore, the data indicates that the intergalactic gas is in a state of evolution at z ∼ 1.5. We confirm that a considerable part of the WHIM is created between z = and z = 2.
Lyman limit
Lyman-alpha forest
Intergalactic dust
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The intergalactic medium (IGM) is the dominant reservoir of baryons at all cosmic epochs. We investigate the evolution of the IGM from z=2-0 in 48 Mpc/h, 110-million particle cosmological hydrodynamic simulations using three prescriptions for galactic outflows. We focus on the evolution of IGM physical properties, and how such properties are traced by Ly-alpha absorption as detectable using HST/COS. Our results broadly confirm the canonical picture that most Ly-alpha absorbers arise from highly ionized gas tracing filamentary large-scale structure. Growth of structure causes gas to move from the diffuse photoionized IGM into other cosmic phases, namely stars, cold and hot gas within galaxy halos, and the unbound and shock-heated warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM). By today, baryons are roughly equally divided between bound phases (35%), the diffuse IGM (41%), and the WHIM (24%). Here we (re)define the WHIM as gas with overdensities lower than that in halos and temperatures >10^5 K, in order to more closely align it with "missing baryons". When we tune our photoionizing background to match the observed evolution of the Ly-alpha mean flux decrement, we obtain a line count evolution that broadly agrees with available data. We predict a column density distribution slope of -1.70 for our favored momentum-driven wind model, in agreement with recent observations, and it becomes shallower with redshift. With improved statistics, the frequency of strong lines can be a valuable diagnostic of outflows, and our favored wind model matches existing data best among our models. The relationship between column density and physical density is fairly tight from z=2-0, and evolves as rho N_HI^0.74 10^(-0.37z) for diffuse absorbers. Linewidths only loosely reflect the temperature of the absorbing gas, which will hamper attempts to quantify the WHIM using broad Ly-alpha absorbers. [Abridged]
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We discuss physical properties and the baryonic content of the Warm-hot Intergalactic Medium (WHIM) at low redshifts. Cosmological simulations predict that the WHIM contains a large fraction of the baryons at z=0 in the form of highly-ionized gas at temperatures between 10^5 and 10^7 K. Using high-resolution ultraviolet spectra obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) we have studied the WHIM at low redshifts by searching for intervening OVI and thermally broadened Lyman alpha (BL) absorption toward a number of quasars and active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Our measurements imply cosmological mass densities of Omega_b(OVI)~0.0027/h_75 and Omega_b(BL)~0.0058/h_75. Our results suggest that the WHIM at low z contains more baryonic mass than stars and gas in galaxies.
Intergalactic dust
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X-ray absorption lines of highly-ionized species such as OVII at about zero redshift have been firmly detected in the spectra of several active galactic nuclei. However, the location of the absorbing gas remains a subject of debate. To separate the Galactic and extragalactic contributions to the absorption, we have obtained Chandra LETG-HRC and FUSE observations of the black hole X-ray binary LMC X--3. A joint analysis of the detected OVII and Ne IX Kalpha lines, together with the non-detection of the OVII Kbeta and OVIII Kalpha lines, gives the measurements of the temperature, velocity dispersion, and hot oxygen column density. The X-ray data also allow us to place a 95% confidence lower limit to the Ne/O ratio as 0.14. The OVII line centroid and its relative shift from the Galactic OI Kalpha absorption line, detected in the same observations, are inconsistent with the systemic velocity of LMC X--3 ($+310 {\rm km s^{-1}}$). The far-UV spectrum shows OVI absorption at Galactic velocities, but no OVI absorption is detected at the LMC velocity at $> 3σ$ significance. Both the nonthermal broadening and the decreasing scale height with the increasing ionization state further suggest an origin of the highly-ionized gas in a supernova-driven galactic fountain. In addition, we estimate the warm and hot electron column densities from our detected OVII Kalpha line in the LMC X--3 X-ray spectra and from the dispersion measure of a pulsar in the LMC vicinity. We then infer the O/H ratio of the gas to be $\gtrsim 8 \times 10^{-5}$, consistent with the chemically-enriched galactic fountain scenario. We conclude that the Galactic hot interstellar medium should in general substantially contribute to zero-redshift X-ray absorption lines in extragalactic sources.
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We discuss physical properties and baryonic content of broad Ly α absorbers (BLAs) at low redshift. These absorption systems, recently discovered in high-resolution, high-signal to noise quasar absorption line spectra, possibly trace the warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM) in the temperature range between 105 and 106 K. The central idea is that in ionization equilibrium WHIM filaments should contain a very small fraction of neutral gas (, typically), giving rise to weak intervening H i Ly α absorption. Due to the high temperature of the WHIM, these Ly α absorbers must be thermally broadened to Doppler parameters (b values) ≥ km s-1. It is expected, however, that also non-thermal line broadening processes, line blends, and noise features can mimic broad spectral features, complicating the quantitative estimate of the baryon content of the BLAs. To extend previous BLA measurements we have reanalyzed archival STIS data of the two quasars H 1821+643 and PG 0953+415 and have identified 13 BLA candidates along a total (unblocked) redshift path of . Combining our measurements with previous results for the lines of sight toward PG 1259+593 and PG 1116+215, the resulting new BLA sample consists of 20 reliably detected systems as well as 29 additional tentative cases, implying a BLA number density of d. Eight BLAs show associated absorption from H i Ly β and/or O vi. The comparison between Ly α, Ly β, and O vi line widths suggests that non-thermal broadening and noise features substantially affect the observed BLA b value distribution. However, it remains unclear whether BLAs and O vi absorbers trace the same gas phase in the WHIM filaments. We estimate that the contribution of BLAs to the baryon density at is (BLA) for absorbers with log cmkm s. This number indicates that WHIM broad Ly α absorbers contain a substantial fraction of the baryons in the local Universe.
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We report the detection of highly ionized gas at z ~ 0 seen in resonant UV and X-ray absorption lines toward the z = 0.03 blazar Mrk 421. A total of 13 X-ray and three UV lines were measured (or upper limits derived), including three lines in the O VII K series and Kα transitions from neon, carbon, and nitrogen. From the three O VII lines we derive a 2 σ Doppler parameter constraint of 24 km s-1 < b < 55 km s-1. The FUSE spectrum shows strong Galactic low-velocity O VI λ1032 absorption and a possible weak O VI high-velocity component (HVC). The Doppler parameter of the low-velocity O VI measured with FUSE is ~3 σ higher than that derived from the O VII line ratios, indicating that the O VII and Galactic O VI arise in different phases. This velocity dispersion along with limits on the gas temperature and density from the X-ray line ratios (assuming a single phase with collisional ionization equilibrium plus photoionization) are all consistent with an extragalactic absorber. However, the O VII Doppler parameter is inconsistent with the high temperature required to produce the observed O VIHVC/O VII ratio, implying that the HVC is probably not related to the O VII. In addition, the O VIKα line detected by Chandra implies a column density ~4 times higher than the λ1032 absorption. Although an extragalactic absorber is fully consistent with the measured column density ratios, a Galactic origin cannot be ruled out given the uncertainties in the available data.
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At redshifts z ≳ 2, most of the baryons reside in the smooth intergalactic medium which is responsible for the low column density Lyα forest. This photoheated gas follows a tight temperature-density relation which introduces a cut-off in the distribution of widths of the Lyα absorption lines (b-parameters) as a function of column density. We have measured this cut-off in a sample of nine high-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio quasar spectra and determined the thermal evolution of the intergalactic medium in the redshift range 2.0–4.5. At a redshift z∼3, the temperature at the mean density shows a peak and the gas becomes nearly isothermal. We interpret this as evidence for the reionization of He ii.
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We present Hubble Space Telescope and Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer observations of the intergalactic absorption toward QSO PG 1116+215 in the 900-3000 Å spectral region. We detect 25 Lyα absorbers along the sight line at rest-frame equivalent widths Wr > 30 mÅ, yielding (dN/dz)Lyα = 166 ± 20 over an unblocked redshift path ΔzLyα = 0.150. Two additional weak Lyα absorbers with Wr ≈ 15-20 mÅ are also present. Eight of the Lyα absorbers have large line widths (b ≳ 40 km s-1). The detection of narrow O VI absorption in the broad Lyα absorber at z = 0.06244 supports the idea that the Lyα profile is thermally broadened in gas with T > 105 K. We find dN/dz ≈ 53 for broad Lyα absorbers with Wr ≳ 30 mÅ and b ≥ 40 km s-1. This number drops to dN/dz ≈ 40 if the line widths are restricted to 40 ≤ b ≤ 100 km s-1. If the broad Lyα lines are dominated by thermal broadening in hot gas, the amount of baryonic material in these absorbers is enormous, perhaps as much as half the baryonic mass in the low-redshift universe. We detect O VI absorption in several of the Lyα clouds along the sight line. Two detections at z = 0.13847 and z = 0.16548 are confirmed by the presence of other ions at these redshifts (e.g., C II-III, N II-III, N V, O I, O VI, and Si II-IV), while the detections at z = 0.04125, 0.05895, 0.05928, and 0.06244 are based upon the Lyα and O VI detections alone. We find (dN/dz) ≈ 18 for O VI absorbers with Wr > 50 mÅ toward PG 1116+215. The information available for 13 low-redshift O VI absorbers with Wr ≥ 50 mÅ along six sight lines yields (dN/dz) ≈ 13 and Ωb(O ) ≳ 0.0022 h, assuming a metallicity of 0.1 solar and an O VI ionization fraction f ≤ 0.2. The properties and prevalence of low-redshift O VI absorbers suggest that they too may be a substantial baryon repository, perhaps containing as much mass as stars and gas inside galaxies. The redshifts of the O VI absorbers are highly correlated with the redshifts of galaxies along the PG 1116+215 sight line, though few of the absorbers lie closer than ~600 h to any single galaxy. We analyze the kinematics and ionization of the metal-line systems along this sight line and discuss the implications of these observations for understanding the physical conditions and baryonic content of intergalactic matter in the low-redshift universe.
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Recent Chandra and XMM-Newton observations of distant quasars have shown strong local (z ~ 0) X-ray absorption lines from highly ionized gas, primarily He-like oxygen. The nature of these X-ray absorbers, i.e., whether they are part of the hot gas associated with the Milky Way or part of the intragroup medium in the Local Group, remains a puzzle due to the uncertainties in the distance. We present in this paper a survey of 20 AGNs with Chandra and XMM-Newton archival data. About 40% of the targets show local O VII He α absorption with column densities around 1016 cm-2; in particular, O VII absorption is present in all the high-quality spectra. We estimate that the sky covering fraction of this O VII-absorbing gas is at least 63%, at 90% confidence, and likely to be unity given enough high-quality spectra. On the basis of (1) the expected number of absorbers along sight lines toward distant AGNs, (2) joint analysis with X-ray emission measurements, and (3) mass estimation, we argue that the observed X-ray absorbers are part of the hot gas associated with our Galaxy. Future observations will significantly improve our understanding of the covering fraction and provide robust tests of this result.
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