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arXiv 1506.01031astro-ph.CO
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宇宙网星系团间细丝中温热星系际介质的统计检测

Towards the statistical detection of the warm-hot intergalactic medium in inter-cluster filaments of the cosmic web

Nicolas Tejos, J. Xavier Prochaska, Neil H. M. Crighton, Simon L. Morris, Jessica K. Werk, Tom Theuns, Nelson Padilla, Rich M. Bielby, Charles W. Finn

摘要:

对结构形成的现代分析预测,宇宙纠缠在暗物质和扩散重子的“宇宙网”中。这些理论进一步预言,在低z时,相当一部分重子将被激波加热到$T \sim 10^{5}-10^{7}$ K,产生一种温热的星系际介质(WHIM),但其实际存在还没有得到可靠的观测证实。我们提出了一个新的实验来检测WHIM,通过瞄准假定的纤维连接星系团。我们利用HST/COS观测到一条显著的类星体视线,它从连接7个红移为$0.1 \le z \le 0.5$的独立星系团对的7个星系团间轴穿过$Δd = 3$ Mpc。我们发现总HI,窄HI(NLA;多普勒参数$b<50$公里/秒),宽HI(BLA; $b \ge 50$公里/秒)和OVI吸收线的初步过剩的静止帧速度$Δv \lesssim 1000$公里/秒的集群对红移,相应的$\sim 2$,$\sim 1.7$,$\sim 6$和$\sim 4$倍,分别其字段的预期。虽然过剩的OVI可能来自气体接近个别星系,我们得出结论,大多数的过剩的NLA和BLA是真正的星系际。我们发现,覆盖分数,$f_c$,BLA接近集群对是$\sim 4-7$倍高于随机期望(在$\sim 2 σ$ c.l.),而NLA和OVI的$f_c$没有显著增强。我们认为,一个更大的相对过剩的BLA相比,那些NLA接近集群对可能是一个签名的WHIM在集群间的灯丝。通过将目前的分析扩展到数十个视线,我们的实验提供了一个很有前途的路线来检测WHIM。

英文摘要:

Modern analyses of structure formation predict a universe tangled in a 'cosmic web' of dark matter and diffuse baryons. These theories further predict that at low-z, a significant fraction of the baryons will be shock-heated to $T \sim 10^{5}-10^{7}$K yielding a warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM), but whose actual existence has eluded a firm observational confirmation. We present a novel experiment to detect the WHIM, by targeting the putative filaments connecting galaxy clusters. We use HST/COS to observe a remarkable QSO sightline that passes within $Δd = 3$ Mpc from the 7 inter-cluster axes connecting 7 independent cluster-pairs at redshifts $0.1 \le z \le 0.5$. We find tentative excesses of total HI, narrow HI (NLA; Doppler parameters $b<50$ km/s), broad HI (BLA; $b \ge 50$ km/s) and OVI absorption lines within rest-frame velocities of $Δv \lesssim 1000$ km/s from the cluster-pairs redshifts, corresponding to $\sim 2$, $\sim 1.7$, $\sim 6$ and $\sim 4$ times their field expectations, respectively. Although the excess of OVI likely comes from gas close to individual galaxies, we conclude that most of the excesses of NLAs and BLAs are truly intergalactic. We find that the covering fractions, $f_c$, of BLAs close to cluster-pairs are $\sim 4-7$ times higher than the random expectation (at the $\sim 2 σ$ c.l.), whereas the $f_c$ of NLAs and OVI are not significantly enhanced. We argue that a larger relative excess of BLAs compared to those of NLAs close to cluster-pairs may be a signature of the WHIM in inter-cluster filaments. By extending the present analysis to tens of sightlines our experiment offers a promising route to detect the WHIM.

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