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A systematic comparison of the models of the circumgalactic medium (CGM) and their observables is crucial to understanding the predictive power of the models and constraining physical processes that affect the thermodynamics of CGM. This paper compares four analytic CGM models: precipitation, isentropic, cooling flow, and baryon pasting models for the hot, volume-filling CGM phase, all assuming hydrostatic or quasi-hydrostatic equilibrium. We show that for fiducial parameters of the CGM of a Milky Way (MW)-like galaxy (⁠|$M_{\rm vir} \sim 10^{12}~{\rm M}_{\odot }$| at |$z\sim 0$|⁠), the thermodynamic profiles – entropy, density, temperature, and pressure – show most significant differences between different models at small (⁠|$r\lesssim 30$|  kpc) and large scales (⁠|$r\gtrsim 100$|  kpc) while converging at intermediate scales. The slope of the entropy profile, which is one of the most important differentiators between models, is |$\approx 0.8$| for the precipitation and cooling flow models, while it is |$\approx 0.6$| and 0 for the baryon pasting and isentropic models, respectively. We make predictions for various observational quantities for an MW mass halo for the different models, including the projected Sunyaev–Zeldovich effect, soft X-ray emission (0.5–2 keV), dispersion measure, and column densities of oxygen ions (O  vi , O  vii , and O  viii) observable in absorption. We provide Python packages to compute the thermodynamic and observable quantities for the different CGM models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sunyaev–Zeldovich (SZ) effect is a powerful tool in modern cosmology. With future observations promising ever improving SZ measurements, the relativistic corrections to the SZ signals from galaxy groups and clusters are increasingly relevant. As such, it is important to understand the differences between three temperature measures: (a) the average relativistic SZ (rSZ) temperature, (b) the mass-weighted temperature relevant for the thermal SZ (tSZ) effect, and (c) the X-ray spectroscopic temperature. In this work, we compare these cluster temperatures, as predicted by the Bahamas  & Macsis ,  IllustrisTNG ,  Magneticum , and The Three Hundred Project simulations. Despite the wide range of simulation parameters, we find the SZ temperatures are consistent across the simulations. We estimate a |$\simeq 10{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| level correction from rSZ to clusters with Y ≃ 10−4 Mpc−2. Our analysis confirms a systematic offset between the three temperature measures; with the rSZ temperature |$\simeq 20{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| larger than the other measures, and diverging further at higher redshifts. We demonstrate that these measures depart from simple self-similar evolution and explore how they vary with the defined radius of haloes. We investigate how different feedback prescriptions and resolutions affect the observed temperatures, and discover the SZ temperatures are rather insensitive to these details. The agreement between simulations indicates an exciting avenue for observational and theoretical exploration, determining the extent of relativistic SZ corrections. We provide multiple simulation-based fits to the scaling relations for use in future SZ modelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present constraints on a simple analytical model for hot diffuse halo gas, derived from a fit spanning two orders of magnitude in halo mass (⁠|$M_{500} \sim 10^{12.5}\!-\!10^{14.5} \, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$|⁠). The model is motivated by the observed prevalence of a precipitation limit, and its main free parameter is the central ratio of gas cooling time-scale to free-fall time-scale (t cool/ t ff). We use integrated X-ray and thermal Sunyaev–Zel'dovich observations of the environments around massive galaxies, galaxy groups, and clusters, averaged in halo mass bins, and obtain the best-fitting model parameters. We find t cool/ t ff ∼ 50–110, depending on the model extrapolation beyond the halo virial radius and possibly on biases present in the data sets used in the fitting analysis. The model adequately describes the entire mass range, except for intermediate mass haloes (⁠|$M_{500} \sim 10^{13.5} \, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$|⁠) that systematically fall below the model predictions. However, the best fits for t cool/ t ff substantially exceed the values typically derived from X-ray observations of individual systems (t cool/ t ff ∼ 10–30). We consider several explanations for those discrepancies, including X-ray selection biases and a potential anticorrelation between X-ray luminosity and the central galaxy's stellar mass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the cross-correlation of distribution of galaxies, the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) and X-ray power spectra of galaxies from current and upcoming surveys and show these to be excellent probes of the nature, i.e. extent, evolution and energetics, of the circumgalactic medium (CGM). The SZ-galaxy cross-power spectrum, especially at large multipoles, depends on the steepness of the pressure profile of the CGM. This property of the SZ signal can, thus, be used to constrain the pressure profile of the CGM. The X-ray cross-power spectrum also has a similar shape. However, it is much more sensitive to the underlying density profile. We forecast the detectability of the cross-correlated galaxy distribution, SZ and X-ray signals by combining South Pole Telescope-Dark Energy Survey (SPT-DES) and eROSITA-DES/eROSITA-LSST (extended ROentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array-Large Synoptic Survey Telescope) surveys, respectively. We find that, for the SPT-DES survey, the signal-to-noise ratio peaks at high mass and redshift with signal-to-noise ratio ~9 around Mh ~ 1013?h-1 M⊙ and z ~ 1.5-2 for flat density and temperature profiles. The signal-to-noise ratio peaks at ~6(12) for the eROSITA-DES (eROSITA-LSST) surveys. We also perform a Fisher matrix analysis to find the constraint on the gas fraction in the CGM in the presence or absence of an unknown redshift evolution of the gas fraction. Finally, we demonstrate that the cross-correlated SZ-galaxy and X-ray-galaxy power spectrum can be used as powerful probes of the CGM energetics and potentially discriminate between different feedback models recently proposed in the literature; for example, one can distinguish a 'no active galactic nuclei feedback' scenario from a CGM energized by 'fixed-velocity hot winds' at greater than 3σ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]