http://arxiv.org/abs/1508.01525
Observations at low redshifts thus far fail to account for all of the baryons expected in the Universe according to cosmological constraints. A large fraction of the baryons presumably resides in a thin and warm-hot medium between the galaxies, where they are difficult to observe due to their low densities and high temperatures. Cosmological simulations of structure formation can be used to verify this picture and provide quantitative predictions for the distribution of mass in different large-scale structure components. Here we study the distribution of baryons and dark matter at different epochs using data from the Illustris Simulation. We identify regions of different dark matter density with the primary constituents of large-scale structure, allowing us to measure mass and volume of haloes, filaments and voids. At redshift zero, we find that 49 % of the dark matter and 23 % of the baryons are within haloes. The filaments of the cosmic web host a further 45 % of the dark matter and 46 % of the baryons. The feedback models used in Illustris have a significant impact on the baryon distribution at large-scales, leading to 31 % of the baryons residing in dark matter voids. Categorizing the baryons according to their density and temperature, we find that 17.8 % of them are in a condensed state, 21.6 % are present as cold, diffuse gas, and 53.9 % are found in the state of a warm-hot intergalactic medium.
M. Haider, D. Steinhauser, M. Vogelsberger, et. al.
Mon, 10 Aug 15
5/30
Comments: 11 pages, 15 figures, submitted to MNRAS
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