Metals in the intergalactic medium

Intergalactic Medium

Hot Baryons and the Distribution of Metals in the Intergalactic Medium

We use the observed number and column-density distributions of intergalactic O VI absorbers to constrain the distribution of metals in the low-redshift intergalactic medium (IGM). In this simple model the metals in the O VI absorbers are assumed to be produced in and propagated from lowredshift galaxies drawn from a real sample, in this case the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). This model can e...

Simulations of the Intergalactic Medium

I present a review by epoch of baryons in the intergalac-tic medium (IGM), from the first star until today. Recent observations indicate a protracted period of reionization, suggesting multiple populations of reionizers; detection of these z ∼ > 6 sources is a key goal that is now coming within reach. The optical Lyman alpha forest (2 ∼ < z ∼ < 4) is well-described by the Fluctuating Gunn-Peter...

Ultraviolet Line Emission from Metals in the Low-redshift Intergalactic Medium

We use a high-resolution cosmological simulation that includes hydrodynamics, multiphase star formation, and galactic winds to predict the distribution of metal line emission at z ∼ 0 from the intergalactic medium (IGM). We focus on two ultraviolet doublet transitions, O VI λλ1032,1038 and C IV λλ1548,1551. Emission from filaments with moderate overdensities is orders of magnitude smaller than ...

Galactic Winds in the Intergalactic Medium

We have performed hydrodynamical simulations to investigate the effects of galactic winds on the high-redshift (z = 3) universe. Strong winds suppress the formation of low-mass galaxies significantly, and the metals carried by them produce C IV absorption lines with properties in reasonable agreement with observations. The winds have little effect on the statistics of the H I-absorption lines, ...