The Evolution of the Intergalactic Medium

The bulk of cosmic matter resides in a dilute reservoir that fills the space between galaxies, the intergalactic medium (IGM). The history of this reservoir is intimately tied to the cosmic histories of structure formation, star formation, and supermassive black hole accretion. Our models for the IG...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annual review of astronomy and astrophysics 2016-09, Vol.54 (1), p.313-362
Main Author: McQuinn, Matthew
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accretion
Accretion disks
Black holes
Black holes (astronomy)
Cosmology
Galaxies
Hydrogen
IGM
Intergalactic media
intergalactic medium
Ionization
large-scale structure
Lyα forest
physical cosmology
quasar absorption lines
Red shift
reionization
Reservoirs
Star & galaxy formation
Statistics
Symbols
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Summary:The bulk of cosmic matter resides in a dilute reservoir that fills the space between galaxies, the intergalactic medium (IGM). The history of this reservoir is intimately tied to the cosmic histories of structure formation, star formation, and supermassive black hole accretion. Our models for the IGM at intermediate redshifts (2 z 5) are a tremendous success, quantitatively explaining the statistics of Lyα absorption of intergalactic hydrogen. However, at both lower and higher redshifts (and around galaxies) much is still unknown about the IGM. We review the theoretical models and measurements that form the basis for the modern understanding of the IGM, and we discuss unsolved puzzles (ranging from the largely unconstrained process of reionization at high z to the missing baryon problem at low z ), highlighting the efforts that have the potential to solve them.
ISSN:0066-4146
1545-4282
DOI:10.1146/annurev-astro-082214-122355