The Observed O VI is Just the Tip of the Iceberg: Estimating the Hidden Material in Circumgalactic and Intergalactic Clouds

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new method to estimate the total amount of material in circumgalactic and intergalactic clouds using O VI measurements, revealing these clouds contain more baryonic matter than previously estimated.

Contribution

It provides a novel simulation-based approach to determine the ionization fraction of O VI in dynamic clouds, enabling more accurate total hydrogen mass estimates from observations.

Findings

O VI traces all gas phases in clouds, not just ionized hydrogen.

Estimated total hydrogen in observed clouds exceeds previous lower limits.

Intergalactic O VI clouds may contain a significant fraction of the Universe's baryons.

Abstract

This paper proposes a new method for estimating the total quantity of material in moving circumgalactic and intergalactic clouds from O VI measurements. We simulate high-velocity clouds (HVCs) with the FLASH hydrodynamic code and track the ionization and recombination of all ionization levels of oxygen as a function of time. We calculate the O VI/oxygen ratio ($f_{\rm O VI}$) in our dynamic NEI clouds, finding that it differs significantly from that in static gas. We find that O VI exists in cool, medium, and hot gas in the clouds. As such, it traces all of the hydrogen rather than merely the ionized hydrogen. The total quantity of hydrogen along a typical observed line of sight through a cloud can be estimated from the observed O VI column density, metallicity, and our $f_{\rm O VI}$. We provide the simulations' $f_{\rm O VI}$, a prescription for finding $f_{\rm O VI}$ for observed dynamic clouds, and a methodology for calculating the total hydrogen column density from this $f_{\rm O VI}$ and an observed O VI column density. As examples, we use our $f_{\rm O VI}$ to estimate the total hydrogen column densities along various observed sight lines through two HVCs, Complex C and the Magellanic Stream, finding that these clouds contain more material than the previous lower limits. We also extend this analysis to {low-redshift} intergalactic O VI clouds, finding that they contain several times more baryonic material than previously thought and therefore may account for a significant fraction of the Universe's baryons.