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[41.05] A Little WHIM: Predictions for the Warm Hot Intergalactic Medium from Theory and Observational Constraints

L. A. Phillips (CalTech)

A solution for the missing baryon problem, the discrepant local and high redshift baryon budgets, may lie in the warm/hot intergalactic medium in the cosmic web. Recent X-ray absorption observations of a WHIM component in the Local Group and at higher redshift as well as numerous detections of WHIM OVI absorption features in quasar spectra compel us to revisit earlier theoretical predictions for the WHIM. We review the limits placed on the WHIM component by simulations and analytical predictions, taking into account the new constraints from the X-ray detections of the WHIM. We also examine the feasibility of using far-UV and soft X-ray observations in tandem to obtain a better understanding of the physical extent, temperature and density distribution of the WHIM in groups and filaments.

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35#5
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.