High-Ionization Quasar Absorption Lines: A Test of the Existence of Hot Gas in Spiral-rich Groups

Details High-Ionization Quasar Absorption Lines: A Test of the Existence of Hot Gas in Spiral-rich Groups High-Ionization Quasar Absorption Lines: A Test of the Existence of Hot Gas in Spiral-rich Groups

Jan 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996apj...456l...5m&link_type=abstract

Astrophysical Journal Letters v.456, p.L5

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

50

Cosmology: Observations, Galaxies: Intergalactic Medium, Galaxies: Local Group, Galaxies: Quasars: Absorption Lines, Ultraviolet: General

Scientific paper

ROSAT studies of poor groups of galaxies have revealed hot, diffuse gas only in groups dominated by E/S0 galaxies. Here we investigate the possibility that a similar, but cooler, component exists in spiral-rich groups and can be detected through absorption in QSO spectra. We find that for the expected temperature, density, and metal abundance of the intragroup medium, various high-ionization lines should be detectable. At T ~ 2 x 106 K,O VI, Ne VIII, Mg X, and Si XII lines will be seen. Strong Lyman series lines are also expected. A collisionally ionized gas at these temperatures will not produce much C IV and N V absorption, since it requires a multiphase medium to produce spectra that show all of the above ions. In addition, some lines of sight will likely pass only through the intragroup gas, producing pure "high-ionization" absorption systems (i.e., O VI lines without associated C IV and N V lines). Recent Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and Keck observations have revealed the presence of absorption lines with some of the properties we predict for the intragroup medium in spiral-rich groups. The discovery of a hot intragroup medium in spiral-rich groups would have many important consequences for extragalactic astronomy, including the possible pressure confinement of low-ionization absorption-line clouds.

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