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F. Paerels (Columbia University)
Evidence for the presence of hot, highly ionized gas in the intergalactic medium outside groups and clusters is starting to emerge from X-ray imaging, while X-ray absorption spectroscopy has revealed the presence of hot gas in the Local Group, and possibly beyond. When put together, all the available data seem to suggest that we are close to detecting a sizeable fraction of the 'missing baryons' at small redshift, probably from the highest-overdensity nonvirialized gas. I discuss the evidence and its implications, and outline the requirements for a definitive characterization of the hot intergalactic gas based on high resolution X-ray emission and absorption spectroscopy.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34, #4
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.