The Messenger Astronomical Science

Transform our Understanding of the Baryon Cycle with High-Resolution Quasar Spectroscopy (ByCycle)

No. 190 (March 2023), 42–45

Authors
  • Peroux, Celine [European Southern Observatory (ESO); Marseille Astrophysics Laboratory, France]
  • Merloni, Andrea [Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany]
  • Liske, Joe [University of Hamburg, Germany]
  • Salvato, Mara [Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany]
  • Augustin, Ramona [Space Telescope Science Institute, USA]
  • Balzer, Fabian [Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany]
  • Cioni, Maria-Rosa [Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics, Potsdam, Germany]
  • Comparat, Johan [Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany]
  • Driver, Simon [International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research/University of Western Australia]
  • Fresco, Alejandra [Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany]
  • Garzilli, Antonella [École Polytechnique Fédérale, Lausanne, Switzerland]
  • Hamanowicz, Aleksandra [Space Telescope Science Institute, USA]
  • Klitsch, Anne [Dark Cosmology Center, Denmark]
  • Kneib, Jean-Paul [École Polytechnique Fédérale, Lausanne, Switzerland]
  • Krogager, Jens-Kristian [CRAL, University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, ENS of Lyon, France]
  • Nelson, Dylan [University of Heidelberg, Germany]
  • Richard, Johan [CRAL, University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, ENS of Lyon, France]
  • Schady, Patricia [University of Bath, UK]
  • Shen, Yue [University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA]
  • Szakacs, Roland [European Southern Observatory (ESO)]
  • Weng, Simon [European Southern Observatory (ESO)]
  • Yang, Qian [Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian, USA]
  • and the ByCycle team
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Section
Astronomical Science
Abstract

The term baryons refers to the normal matter of the Universe. Surprisingly, only a minority of this normal matter (< 10%) can be probed by observations of starlight from galaxies. The ByCycle project aims to study the remaining majority of the baryons traced by the intergalactic gas. To this end, ByCycle will use the powerful synergy of absorption and emission diagnostics by observing a large sample of background quasars to probe the circumgalactic medium of foreground objects in the same sky regions. The objective of the 2.8-million fibre-hour ByCycle project is ultimately to characterise the physical processes by which gas changes phases and travels into, through, and out of galaxies. Such a study is essential to our understanding of the growth of structure in the Universe.

DOI
Bibcode
2023Msngr.190...42P
Dates
Created: 2023-03-01/2023-03-31
Length
4 pages
Rights
Copyright European Southern Observatory

Cite this article:

Peroux, C., Merloni, A., Liske, J., Salvato, M., Augustin, R., Balzer, F., Cioni, M., Comparat, J., Driver, S., Fresco, A., Garzilli, A., Hamanowicz, A., Klitsch, A., Kneib, J., Krogager, J., Nelson, D., Richard, J., Schady, P., Shen, Y., Szakacs, R., Weng, S., Yang, Q., and the ByCycle team; Transform our Understanding of the Baryon Cycle with High-Resolution Quasar Spectroscopy (ByCycle). The Messenger 190 (March 2023): 42–45. https://doi.org/10.18727/0722-6691/5311