Possibility of measuring the amount of intergalactic metals with 14N VII HFS line

We discuss possibility of observations of the warm-hot intergalactic medium using the hyperfine structure line of highly charged nitrogen ion ¹⁴N VII (rest wavelength λ = 5.652 mm). Observations of this line will allow to separate bulk and turbulent motions in the observed target and will broaden the information about the gas ionization state, chemical and isotopic composition.

Wavelength of this line is well-suited for ground-based observation of objects at z ≈ 0.15 - 0.6 when it is redshifted to the widely-used 6.5 - 9 mm spectral band, and, for example, for z ≥ 1.3, when the line can be observed in 1.3 cm band and at lower frequencies.