Missing Baryons, from Clusters to Groups of Galaxies

Abstract

From clusters to groups of galaxies, the powerful bremsstrahlung radiation L_X emitted in X rays by the intracluster plasma is observed to decline sharply with lowering virial temperatures T (i.e., at shallower depths of the gravitational wells) after a steep local L_X-T correlation; this implies increasing scarcity of diffuse baryons relative to dark matter, well under the cosmic fraction. We show how the widely debated issue concerning these `missing baryons' is solved in terms of the thermal and/or dynamical effects of the kinetic (at low redshifts z) and radiative (at high z) energy inputs from central active galactic nuclei, of which independent evidence is being observed. From these inputs we compute shape and z-evolution expected for L_X-T correlation which agree with the existing data, and provide a predictive pattern for future observations.

5 pages, 3 figures, uses REVTeX4 + emulateapj.cls and apjfonts.sty. Accepted on ApJL

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• The Search for the Missing Baryons at Low Redshift
• Confirming the high velocity outflow in PG 1211+143
• On the origin of radio core emission in radio-quiet quasars
• The kinetic luminosity function and the jet production efficiency of growing black holes
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Cited by in corpus (2)

• A synthesis model for AGN evolution: supermassive black holes growth and feedback modes
• The Optical-Radio Mapping: the kinetic efficiency of Radio-Loud AGNs