1997/10/14 by Q. Daniel Wang, Wang, Q. Daniel
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Scientific Research and Discoveries #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9710142
an invited talk presented at IAU Symoposium No. 188: The Hot Universe. 4 page text
arxiv created 1997/10/14 · openalex publication_date 1997/10/14 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
A definite prediction from recent N-body/hydro simulations of the structure formation of the universe is the presence of a diffuse intergalactic medium (IGM) in a temperature range of 105 - 107 K. This hot phase of the IGM may account for most of the baryon content of the universe and may provide unique information on various physical and chemical processes of the structure formation. I review lines of observational evidence for the hot IGM. The topics include the decomposition of the soft X-ray background into point-like and diffuse components, the preliminary spectroscopic data from ASCA for a thermal component, the separation of the Galactic foreground from the extragalactic background, and the detection of individual hot IGM enhancements near rich clusters of galaxies. The results demonstrate the potential of X-ray observations as a powerful tool to study the large-scale structure of the universe.