The large-scale distribution of ionized metals in IllustrisTNG

Abstract

We study the intrinsic large-scale distribution and evolution of seven ionized metals in the IllustrisTNG magneto-hydrodynamical cosmological simulation. We focus on the fractions of C\,\textsc{ii}, C\,\textsc{iv}, Mg\,\textsc{ii}, N\,\textsc{v}, Ne\,\textsc{viii}, O\,\textsc{vi}, and Si\,\textsc{iv} in different cosmic web structures (filaments, haloes, and voids) and gas phases (warm-hot intergalactic medium WHIM, hot, diffuse, and condensed gas) from $z=6$ to $z=0$. Our analysis provides a new perspective to the study of the distribution and evolution of baryons across cosmic time while offering new hints in the context of the well-known missing baryons problem. The cosmic web components are here identified using the local comoving dark matter density, which provides a simple but effective way of mapping baryons on large scales. Our results show that C\,\textsc{ii} and Mg\,\textsc{ii} are mostly located in condensed gas inside haloes in high-density and low-temperature star-forming regions (${\rho }_{\mathrm{gas}}/{\bar{\rho }}_{\mathrm{bar}}\gtrsim 10^3$, and $\mathrm{T}\lesssim 10^5$~K). C\,\textsc{iv} and Si\,\textsc{iv} present similar evolution of their mass fractions in haloes and filaments across cosmic time. In particular, their mass budgets in haloes in condensed phase (${\rho }_{\mathrm{gas}}/{\bar{\rho }}_{\mathrm{bar}}\gtrsim 10^3$, and $\mathrm{T}\lesssim 10^5$~K) are driven by gas cooling and star formation with a peak at $z\sim 2$. Finally, our results confirm that O\,\textsc{vi}, Ne\,\textsc{viii}, and N\,\textsc{v} are good tracers of warm/hot and low-density gas at low redshift (${\rho }_{\mathrm{gas}}/{\bar{\rho }}_{\mathrm{bar}}\lesssim 10^3$, and $\mathrm{T}\gtrsim 10^5$~K), regions that are likely to contain most of the missing baryons in the local Universe.

15 pages, 9 figures. Submitted to MNRAS

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