Where Are the ``Missing'' Galactic Baryons?

Based on 19 high-resolution N-body/gasdynamical galaxy formation simulations in the ΛCDM cosmology, it is shown that for a galaxy like the Milky Way, in addition to the baryonic mass of the galaxy itself, about 70% extra baryonic mass should reside around the galaxy (inside of the virial radius), chiefly in the form of hot gas. Averaging over the entire field galaxy population, this ``external'' component amounts to 64%-85% of the baryonic mass of the population itself. These results are supported by the recent detection of very extended, soft X-ray emission from the halo of the quiescent, massive disk galaxy NGC 5746. Some of the hot gas may, by thermal instability, have condensed into mainly pressure-supported, warm clouds, similar to the Galactic high-velocity clouds (HVCs). Based on an ultra-high-resolution cosmological test simulation of a Milky Way-like galaxy (with a gas particle mass and gravity softening length of only 7.6×10<sup>3</sup> h<sup>-1</sup> M<sub>solar</sub> and 83 h<sup>-1</sup> pc, respectively), it is argued that the hot gas phase dominates over the warm gas phase, in the halo. Finally, an origin of HVCs as ``leftovers'' from filamentary, ``cold'' accretion events, mainly occurring early in the history of galaxies, is proposed.