The far-ultraviolet signature of the ‘missing’ baryons in the Local Group of galaxies
Abstract
The number of baryons detected in the low-redshift (z < 1) Universe is far smaller than the number detected in corresponding volumes at higher redshifts. Simulations of the formation of structure in the Universe show that up to two-thirds of the 'missing' baryons may have escaped detection because of their high temperature and low density. One of the few ways to detect this matter directly is to look for its signature in the form of ultraviolet absorption lines in the spectra of background sources such as quasars. Here we show that the amplitude of the average velocity vector of 'high velocity' O vi (O5+) absorption clouds detected in a survey of ultraviolet emission from active galactic nuclei decreases significantly when the vector is transformed to the frames of the Galactic Standard of Rest and the Local Group of galaxies. At least 82 per cent of these absorbers are not associated with any 'high velocity' atomic hydrogen complex in our Galaxy, and are therefore likely to result from a primordial warm-hot intergalactic medium pervading an extended corona around the Milky Way or the Local Group. The total mass of baryons in this medium is estimated to be up to approximately 10(12) solar masses, which is of the order of the mass required to dynamically stabilize the Local Group.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The Milky Way has a hot circumgalactic medium.
“Detection of O vi , O vii , and O viii absorption lines along several Galactic and extragalactic sources made it clear that MW has a reserve of hot ( ∼ 10 6 K) gas surrounding it (Nicastro et al. 2003; Sembach et al. 2003; Wang et al. 2005).”
From The Fermi/eROSITA bubbles: a look into the nuclear outflow from the Milky Way (2024) · cites this paper as Nicastro et al. 2003
Cites
Cen, R., & Ostriker, J. P. (1999) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/306949 · Cited by 1,041 · see citing works
The Bell Laboratories H I survey
Stark, A. A., Gammie, C. F., Wilson, R. W., Bally, J., LINKE, R. A., Heiles, C. E., & Hurwitz, M. (1992) · The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series · doi:10.1086/191645 · Cited by 837 · see citing works
Baryons in the Warm‐Hot Intergalactic Medium
Dave, R., Cen, R., Ostriker, J. P., Bryan, G. L., Hernquist, L., Katz, N., Weinberg, D. H., Norman, M. L., & O’Shea, B. (2001) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/320548 · Cited by 825 · see citing works
Structure of Stationary Photodissociation Fronts
Draine, B. T., & Bertoldi, F. (1996) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/177689 · Cited by 769 · see citing works
Overview of the [ITAL]Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer[/ITAL] Mission
Moos, H. W., Cash, W. C., Cowie, L. L., Davidsen, A. F., Dupree, A. K., Feldman, P. D., Friedman, S. D., Green, J. C., Green, R. F., Gry, C., et al. (2000) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/312795 · Cited by 666 · see citing works
Highly Ionized High‐Velocity Gas in the Vicinity of the Galaxy
Sembach, K. R., Wakker, B. P., Savage, B. D., Richter, P., Meade, M., Shull, J. M., Jenkins, E. B., Sonneborn, G., & Moos, H. W. (2003) · The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series · doi:10.1086/346231 · Cited by 479 · see citing works
Sherpa: a mission-independent data analysis application
Freeman, P. E., Doe, S. M., & Siemiginowska, A. (2001) · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · doi:10.1117/12.447161 · Cited by 467 · see citing works
Intergalactic Matter and the Galaxy.
Kahn, F. D., & Waltjer, L. (1959) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/146762 · Cited by 426 · see citing works
High‐Velocity Clouds: Building Blocks of the Local Group
Blitz, L., Spergel, D. N., Teuben, P. J., Hartmann, D., & Burton, W. B. (1999) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/306963 · Cited by 398 · see citing works
Distances and Metallicities of High‐ and Intermediate‐Velocity Clouds
Wakker, B. P. (2001) · The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series · doi:10.1086/321783 · Cited by 346 · see citing works
High Velocity Clouds: Building Blocks of the Local GroupPreprint
Blitz, L., Spergel, D. N., Teuben, P. J., Hartmann, D., & Burton, W. B. (1998) · Cited by 274 · see citing works
Kravtsov, A. V., Klypin, A. A., & Hoffman, Y. (2002) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/340046 · Cited by 267 · see citing works
ChandraDiscovery of a Tree in the X‐Ray Forest toward PKS 2155−304: The Local Filament?
Nicastro, F., Zezas, A., Drake, J. J., Elvis, M., Fiore, F., Fruscione, A., Marengo, M., Mathur, S., & Bianchi, S. (2002) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/340489 · Cited by 231 · see citing works
Self-citationDistances and Metallicities of High- and Intermediate-Velocity Clouds
Wakker, B. P. (2001) · CERN Document Server (European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Cited by 210 · see citing works
Constrained Simulations of the Real Universe: The Local Supercluster
Klypin, A. A., Hoffman, Y., Kravtsov, A. V., et al. (2003) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/377574 · Cited by 148 · see citing works
Atomic Hydrogen Gas in Dark Matter Minihalos and the Compact High‐Velocity Clouds
Sternberg, A., McKee, C. F., & Wolfire, M. G. (2002) · The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series · doi:10.1086/343032 · Cited by 139 · see citing works
On the Physical Origin of O vi Absorption‐Line Systems
Heckman, T. M., Norman, C., Strickland, D., & Sembach, K. R. (2002) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/342232 · Cited by 130 · see citing works
Waddington, C. J. (1989) · Cited by 127 · see citing works
Tully, R. B. (1982) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/159999 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
The X‐Ray Forest: A New Prediction of Hierarchical Structure Formation Models
Hellsten, U., Gnedin, N. Y., & Miralda‐Escude, J. (1998) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/306499 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Atomic Hydrogen Gas in Dark-Matter Minihalos and the Compact High Velocity Clouds
Sternberg, A., McKee, C. F., & Wolfire, M. G. (2002) · CERN Document Server (European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Savage, B. D., Sembach, K. R., Jenkins, E. B., Shull, J. M., York, D. G., Sonneborn, G., Moos, H. W., Friedman, S. D., Green, J. C., Oegerle, W. R., et al. (2000) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/312792 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
The X-Ray Forest: A New Prediction of Hierarchical Structure Formation ModelsPreprint
Hellsten, U., Gnedin, N. Y., Miralda-Escudé, J., et al. (1998) · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Sembach, K. R., Savage, B. D., Shull, J. M., Jenkins, E. B., Murphy, E. M., York, D. G., Ake, T. B., Blair, W. P., Davidsen, A. F., Friedman, S. D., et al. (2000) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/312785 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
An all–sky study of compact, isolated high–velocity clouds
de Heij, V., Braun, R., & Burton, W. B. (2002) · Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20020908 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
An all-sky study of compact, isolated high-velocity clouds
de Heij, V., Braun, R. L., & Burton, W. B. (2002) · Leiden Repository (Leiden University) · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20020908/pdf · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Far‐Ultraviolet Spectroscopic ExplorerObservations of Degree‐Scale Variations in Galactic Halo O vi
Howk, J. C., Savage, B. D., Sembach, K. R., & Hoopes, C. G. (2002) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/340231 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Hoopes, C. G., Sembach, K. R., Howk, J. C., Savage, B. D., & Fullerton, A. W. (2002) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/339323 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Status of HI searches for CHVCs beyond the Local Group
Braun, R. L., & Burton, W. B. (2001) · Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20010810 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
The High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer for AXAF
CANIZARES, C. R., Schattenburg, M. L., & Smith, H. I. (1986) · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · doi:10.1117/12.966589 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
The Kinematic and Spatial Deployment of Compact, Isolated High-Velocity CloudsPreprint
Braun, R. L., & Burton, W. B. (1998) · arXiv (Cornell University) · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9810433 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Asymmetry in the distribution of stellar velocities
Oort, J. H. (1926) · Observatory · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Highly Ionized High Velocity Gas in the Vicinity of the Milky Way
Sembach, K. R., Wakker, B. P., Savage, B. D., Richter, P., Meade, M., Shull, J. M., & Jenkins, E. B. (2003) · Astrophysics and space science library · doi:10.1007/978-94-010-0115-1_27 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
The FUSE survey of Galactic OVI
Wakker, B. P., Savage, B. D., Sembach, K. R., et al. (2001) · American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
THE ROTATION OF THE HOT GAS AROUND THE MILKY WAY
Hodges-Kluck, E. J., Miller, M. J., & Bregman, J. N. (2016) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.3847/0004-637x/822/1/21 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
The High‐Velocity Gas toward Messier 5: Tracing Feedback Flows in the Inner Galaxy
Zech, W. F., Lehner, N., Howk, J. C., Van Dyke Dixon, W., & Brown, T. M. (2008) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/587135 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
The Fermi/eROSITA bubbles: a look into the nuclear outflow from the Milky Way
Sarkar, K. C. (2024) · The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review · doi:10.1007/s00159-024-00152-1 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
“Detection of O vi , O vii , and O viii absorption lines along several Galactic and ex-tragalactic sources made it clear that MW has a reserve of hot ( ∼ 10 6 K) gas surrounding it (Nicastro et al. 2003; Sembach et al. 2003; Wang et al. 2005).”
BackgroundMethod
- Authors
- Nicastro, F., Zezas, A., Elvis, M., Mathur, S., Fiore, F., Cecchi-Pestellini, C., Burke, D., Drake, J., & Casella, P.
- Affiliations
- Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (US)
- The Ohio State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Nicastro, Fabrizio
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2003-02
- Volume
- 421
- Issue
- 6924
- Pages
- 719-721
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2031228740
- Cited by
- 91
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2019: 3 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 9.07
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
- Keywords
- missing baryons, Local Group, far-ultraviolet absorption, high-velocity clouds, warm-hot intergalactic medium, quasar absorption lines, active galactic nuclei, Local Group dynamics
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
