X-ray absorption lines in FUV-detected quasars: I. Sample and analysis of the XMM-Newton and Chandra data

TL;DR

This study systematically searches for X-ray absorption lines in quasars using XMM-Newton and Chandra data, aiming to detect the warm-hot intergalactic medium and address the missing baryons problem.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method combining FUV priors with X-ray data to identify WHIM absorption lines in a large quasar sample.

Findings

33 systems show significant X-ray absorption coincident with FUV priors

Detected lines support the presence of the warm-hot intergalactic medium

Results contribute to understanding the universe's missing baryons

Abstract

This paper presents initial results of a systematic search for resonance X-ray absorption lines from H-like O VIII and He-like O VII caused by the intervening warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM). The search is based on far ultra-violet redshift priors from O VI and H I broad Lyman-alpha lines that were previously detected by HST and FUSE in a sample of 51 sources with either XMM-Newton or Chandra data, for a total X-ray redshift path of $\Delta z$ = 10.9. Of the 1,224 absorption-line systems with FUV priors that were analyzed, 33 systems feature an absorption-line feature detected with $\geq$99 % confidence at the same redshift of the FUV prior, some coincident with previously reported absorption line detections. The ultimate goal of this search is to test the hypothesis that X-ray absorbing WHIM gas is the repository of the missing baryons in the local universe. Further results and the cosmological implications of this analysis are presented in a companion paper.