4 research outputs found
Hot atmospheres of galaxies, groups, and clusters of galaxies
Most of the ordinary matter in the local Universe has not been converted into
stars but resides in a largely unexplored diffuse, hot, X-ray emitting plasma.
It pervades the gravitational potentials of massive galaxies, groups and
clusters of galaxies, as well as the filaments of the cosmic web. The physics
of this hot medium, such as its dynamics, thermodynamics and chemical
composition can be studied using X-ray spectroscopy in great detail. Here, we
present an overview of the basic properties and discuss the self similarity of
the hot "atmospheres" permeating the gravitational halos from the scale of
galaxies, through groups, to massive clusters. Hot atmospheres are stabilised
by the activity of supermassive black holes and, in many ways, they are of key
importance for the evolution of their host galaxies. The hot plasma has been
significantly enriched in heavy elements by supernovae during the period of
maximum star formation activity, probably more than 10 billion years ago. High
resolution X-ray spectroscopy just started to be able to probe the dynamics of
atmospheric gas and future space observatories will determine the properties of
the currently unseen hot diffuse medium throughout the cosmic web.Comment: Accepted for publication in the book "Reviews in Frontiers of Modern
Astrophysics: From Space Debris to Cosmology" (eds Kabath, Jones and Skarka;
publisher Springer Nature) funded by the European Union Erasmus+ Strategic
Partnership grant "Per Aspera Ad Astra Simul" 2017-1-CZ01-KA203-03556