Missing matter found in the cosmic web

Fang, Taotao

doi:10.1038/d41586-018-05432-2

NEWS AND VIEWS
20 June 2018

Missing matter found in the cosmic web

The location of nearly half of the ordinary matter in the Universe is unknown. X-ray observations suggest that this elusive ‘baryonic’ matter is hidden in the filamentary structure of the cosmic web.

Taotao Fang ⁰

Taotao Fang
1. Taotao Fang is in the Department of Astronomy and the Jiujiang Research Institute, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, China.
View author publications

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Access through your institution

Buy or subscribe

We live in a dark Universe: just 5% of it consists of ordinary matter such as that found in atoms, whereas the rest is ‘dark’ matter and energy that cannot currently be detected directly¹. However, observations of the nearby Universe suggest that up to 40% of this ordinary matter — which is made up primarily of particles known as baryons — is missing²^–⁵. Baryonic matter is thought to be distributed through the Universe like a cosmic web, and the missing baryons are predicted to be located in the filamentary structures that connect the web, and in intergalactic space⁴. In a paper in Nature, Nicastro et al.⁶ report the detection of the X-ray absorption signatures of baryons in the spectra of a bright background object. The findings might finally reveal a major reservoir for baryonic matter.

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Nature 558, 375-376 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-05432-2

References

Planck Collaboration. Astron. Astrophys. 594, 13 (2016).
Article Google Scholar
Fukugita, M., Hogan, C. J. & Peebles, P. J. E. Astrophys. J. 503, 518 (1998).
Article Google Scholar
Cen, R. & Ostriker, J. P. Astrophys. J. 514, 1 (1999).
Article Google Scholar
Bregman, J. N. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 45, 221–259 (2007).
Article Google Scholar
Shull, J. M., Smith, B. D. & Danforth, C. W. Astrophys. J. 759, 23 (2012).
Article Google Scholar
Nicastro, F. et al. Nature 558, 406–409 (2018).
Article Google Scholar
Fang, T., Marshall, H. L., Lee, J. C., Davis, D. S. & Canizares, C. R. Astrophys. J. 572, L127 (2002).
Article Google Scholar
Nicastro, F. et al. Nature 433, 495–498 (2005).
PubMed Article Google Scholar
Hernández-Monteagudo, C. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 191301 (2015).
PubMed Article Google Scholar