Searcharxiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · astro-ph/9905364

Measuring the temperature of the intergalactic medium

Joop Schaye·Tom Theuns·Anthony Leonard·George Efstathiou
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Numerical simulations indicate that the smooth, photoionized intergalactic medium (IGM) responsible for the low column density Lyman-alpha forest follows a well defined temperature-density relation. We show that such an equation of state results in a cutoff in the distribution of line widths (b-parameters) as a function of column density (N) for the low column density absorption lines. This explains the existence of the lower envelope which is clearly seen in scatter plots of the b(N)-distribution in observed QSO spectra. The intercept and slope of this cutoff can be used to measure the equation of state of the IGM. Measuring the evolution of the equation of state with redshift will allow us to put tight constraints on the reionization history of the universe.

Explore related subjects

astro-ph

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Joop Schaye, Tom Theuns, Anthony Leonard, George Efstathiou. 1999-05-27. Measuring the temperature of the intergalactic medium. https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9905364

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2025

A Cyclical Baryonic Big Bang Explains the Universe

Our universe has multiple examples of unexplained gravitational losses in black holes and neutron stars. The smallest black holes of about 4 solar masses means the maximum baryon density ρ\approx 10^{17} grams/cm^3. Any collapse of the universe will stop with a scale factor \approx 10^{13} cm. and radiation energy \approx 10 GeV. Due to higher squeezed core baryons, the outer part of the mass transferred energy to the core and became dark matter. After contraction reduced particle motion and gravitation, the core radiation energy propelled pieces of the shell into the universe. Each of these masses captured hot core gases according to its gravitational size, forming proto-galaxies. A cold shell and a hot core explain the Planck spectrum and large galaxy formation in the early universe. Thus the universe was never radiation dominant.The universe will remain cyclical as any increase in entropy of matter will be crushed back to neutrons during the contraction phase.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2024

A survey of debris trails from short-period comets

We observed 34 comets using the 24 micron camera on the Spitzer Space Telescope. Each image contains the nucleus and covers at least 10^6 km of each comet's orbit. Debris trails due to mm-sized or larger particles were found along the orbits of 27 comets; 4 comets had small-particle dust tails and a viewing geometry that made debris trails impossible to distinguish; and only 3 had no debris trail despite favorable observing conditions. There are now 30 Jupiter-family comets with known debris trails, of which 22 are reported in this paper for the first time. The detection rate is >80%, indicating that debris trails are a generic feature of short-period comets. By comparison to orbital calculations for particles of a range of sizes ejected over 2 yr prior to observation, we find that particles comprising 4 debris trails are typically mm-sized while the remainder of the debris trails require particles larger than this. The lower-limit masses of the debris trails are typically 10^11 g, and the median mass loss rate is 2 kg/s. The mass-loss rate in trail particles is comparable to that inferred from OH production rates and larger than that inferred from visible-light scattering in comae.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2024

Deformation procedure for scalar fields in cosmology

This work offers an extension of the deformation procedure introduced in field theory to the case of standard cosmology in the presence of real scalar field in flat space-time. The procedure is shown to work for many models, which give rise to several different cosmic scenarios, evolving under the presence of first-order differential equations which solve the corresponding equations of motion very appropriately.

astro-ph↗