TRACING BRIGHT AND DARK SIDES OF THE UNIVERSE WITH X-RAY OBSERVATIONS

Abstract

X-ray observations of galaxy clusters have played an important role in cosmology, especially in determining the cosmological density parameter and the fluctuation amplitude. While they represent the bright side of the universe together with the other probes including the cosmic microwave background and the Type Ia supernovae, the resulting information clearly indicates that the universe is dominated by dark components. Even most of cosmic baryons turns out to be dark. In order to elucidate the nature of dark baryons, we propose a dedicated soft-X-ray mission, DIOS (Diffuse Intergalactic Oxygen Surveyor). Recent numerical simulations suggest that approximately 30 to 50 percent of total baryons at z = 0 take the form of the warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM) with <TEX>$10^5K < T < 10^7K $</TEX>which has evaded the direct detection so far. The unprecedented energy resolution (<TEX>${\~} 2eV$</TEX>) of the XSA (X-ray Spectrometer Array) on-board DIGS enables us to identify WHIM with gas temperature <TEX>$T = 10^6 {\~} 10^7K$</TEX> and overdensity <TEX>$\delta$</TEX> = 10 <TEX>${\~}$</TEX> 100 located at z < 0.3 through emission lines of OVII and OVIII. In addition, WHIMs surrounding nearby clusters are detectable with a typical exposure time of a day, and thus constitute realistic and promising targets for DIOS.