Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
May 1994
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994apj...426l..61g&link_type=abstract
Astrophysical Journal, Part 2 - Letters (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 426, no. 2, p. 61-64
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
15
Background Radiation, Intergalactic Media, Lyman Alpha Radiation, Quasars, Temperature, Ultraviolet Absorption, Baryons, Compton Effect, Confinement, Red Shift, Temperature Distribution
Scientific paper
It is shown that it is possible to account for low temperatures in diffuse photoionized clouds using ionization arguments in a manner independent of the structure and confinement of the clouds. We emphasize that cooling by inverse Compton scattering of cosmic microwave background photons by electrons and the effect of a strong but progressive decrease of the UV ionizing background at wavelengths shorter than the He II edge can allow for temperatures as low as 20,000 K for gas in photoionization equilibrium. Using recent determination of H I column densities and temperatures from profile fitting of ASO Lyalpha absorption lines, it is shown that the total density of these high-redshift clouds lies in a narrow range around n approximately 10-4/cc. The sizes are larger than 20 kpc. The observed temperature distribution is explained in terms of space fluctuations in the ionizing UV background at energies larger than the He II edge.
Giallongo Emanuele
Petitjean Patrick
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