TY - JOUR
T1 - Chandra view of the warm-hot intergalactic medium toward 1ES 1553+113
T2 - Absorption-line detections and identifications. I.
AU - Nicastro, F.
AU - Elvis, M.
AU - Krongold, Y.
AU - Mathur, S.
AU - Gupta, A.
AU - Danforth, C.
AU - Barcons, X.
AU - Borgani, S.
AU - Branchini, E.
AU - Cen, R.
AU - Davé, R.
AU - Kaastra, J.
AU - Paerels, F.
AU - Piro, L.
AU - Shull, J. M.
AU - Takei, Y.
AU - Zappacosta, L.
PY - 2013/6/1
Y1 - 2013/6/1
N2 - We present the first results from our pilot 500 ks Chandra Low Energy Transmission Grating Large Program observation of the soft X-ray brightest source in the z ≳ 0.4 sky, the blazar 1ES 1553+113, aimed to secure the first uncontroversial detections of the missing baryons in the X-rays. We identify a total of 11 possible absorption lines, with single-line statistical significances between 2.2σ and 4.1σ. Six of these lines are detected at high single-line statistical significance (3.6 ≤ σ ≤ 4.1), while the remaining five are regarded as marginal detections in association with either other X-ray lines detected at higher significance and/or far-ultraviolet (FUV) signposts. Three of these lines are consistent with metal absorption at z ≃ 0, and we identify them with Galactic O I and C II. The remaining eight lines may be imprinted by intervening absorbers and are all consistent with being high-ionization counterparts of FUV H I and/or O VI intergalactic medium signposts. In particular, five of these eight possible intervening absorption lines (single-line statistical significances of 4.1σ, 4.1σ, 3.9σ, 3.8σ, and 2.7σ), are identified as C V and C VI Kα absorbers belonging to three WHIM systems at zX = 0.312, z X = 0.237, and 〈zX 〉 = 0.133, which also produce broad H I (and O VI for the zX = 0.312 system) absorption in the FUV. For two of these systems (zX = 0.312 and 0.237), the Chandra X-ray data led the a posteriori discovery of physically consistent broad H I associations in the FUV (for the third system the opposite applies), so confirming the power of the X-ray-FUV synergy for WHIM studies. The true statistical significances of these three X-ray absorption systems, after properly accounting for the number of redshift trials, are 5.8σ (z X = 0.312; 6.3σ if the low-significance O V and C V Kβ associations are considered), 3.9σ (zX = 0.237), and 3.8σ (〈zX 〉 = 0.133), respectively.
AB - We present the first results from our pilot 500 ks Chandra Low Energy Transmission Grating Large Program observation of the soft X-ray brightest source in the z ≳ 0.4 sky, the blazar 1ES 1553+113, aimed to secure the first uncontroversial detections of the missing baryons in the X-rays. We identify a total of 11 possible absorption lines, with single-line statistical significances between 2.2σ and 4.1σ. Six of these lines are detected at high single-line statistical significance (3.6 ≤ σ ≤ 4.1), while the remaining five are regarded as marginal detections in association with either other X-ray lines detected at higher significance and/or far-ultraviolet (FUV) signposts. Three of these lines are consistent with metal absorption at z ≃ 0, and we identify them with Galactic O I and C II. The remaining eight lines may be imprinted by intervening absorbers and are all consistent with being high-ionization counterparts of FUV H I and/or O VI intergalactic medium signposts. In particular, five of these eight possible intervening absorption lines (single-line statistical significances of 4.1σ, 4.1σ, 3.9σ, 3.8σ, and 2.7σ), are identified as C V and C VI Kα absorbers belonging to three WHIM systems at zX = 0.312, z X = 0.237, and 〈zX 〉 = 0.133, which also produce broad H I (and O VI for the zX = 0.312 system) absorption in the FUV. For two of these systems (zX = 0.312 and 0.237), the Chandra X-ray data led the a posteriori discovery of physically consistent broad H I associations in the FUV (for the third system the opposite applies), so confirming the power of the X-ray-FUV synergy for WHIM studies. The true statistical significances of these three X-ray absorption systems, after properly accounting for the number of redshift trials, are 5.8σ (z X = 0.312; 6.3σ if the low-significance O V and C V Kβ associations are considered), 3.9σ (zX = 0.237), and 3.8σ (〈zX 〉 = 0.133), respectively.
KW - X-rays: general
KW - atomic processes
KW - intergalactic medium
KW - line: identification
KW - opacity
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U2 - 10.1088/0004-637X/769/2/90
DO - 10.1088/0004-637X/769/2/90
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84878103495
SN - 0004-637X
VL - 769
JO - Astrophysical Journal
JF - Astrophysical Journal
IS - 2
M1 - 90
ER -