What key factors must be refined to accurately estimate the total mass of the diffuse CGM halo?
Answer
Its exact temperature profile and density fall-off.
Quantifying the diffuse mass heavily depends on making accurate assumptions about how the plasma's density decreases with increasing distance from the galactic center and precisely measuring the temperature gradient within that plasma.
Related Questions
What type of matter constitutes the focus of the Milky Way's 'missing mass' mystery?What theoretical framework predicts the expected ratio of normal matter (baryons) in a galaxy like the Milky Way?What is the name given to the vast, gaseous halo surrounding the Milky Way hypothesized to contain the missing baryonic matter?Why is detecting the missing ordinary matter in the CGM difficult using traditional methods?Which instrument is specifically mentioned as using X-ray sensitivity to look for the high temperatures expected in the halo gas?What leading explanation is proposed for why vast quantities of gas were ejected far out into the CGM?Approximately how long ago might the turbulent process that ejected the missing matter have occurred?Besides the hot gas in the CGM, what other orbiting structures contribute to accounting for some of the Milky Way's missing mass census?What observational technique, besides X-ray detection, provided crucial insights into mapping the missing baryonic material outside the disk?What key factors must be refined to accurately estimate the total mass of the diffuse CGM halo?