The missing baryons and the warm-hot intergalactic medium
Abstract
In this presentation we discuss the prospects for Athena to study the warm-hotintergalactic medium (WHIM). Theory predicts that most of the baryons reside in vast unvirialized filamentary structures that connect galaxy groups andclusters, but the observational evidence is currently lacking. Because themajority of the baryons are supposed to exist in a large-scale, hot and dilutegaseous phase, X-rays provide the ideal tool to progress our understanding.Observations with the Athena X-ray Integral Field Unit will reveal thelocation, chemical composition, physical state and dynamics of the activepopulation of baryons.
- Publication:
-
Exploring the Hot and Energetic Universe: The first scientific conference dedicated to the Athena X-ray observatory
- Pub Date:
- September 2015
- Bibcode:
- 2015eheu.conf...12K