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Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) afterglows close to their peak intensity are among thebrightest X-ray sources in the sky. Despite their fast power-law like decay,when fluxes are integrated from minutes up to hours after the GRB event, thecorresponding number counts (logN-logF relation) far exceeds that of any otherhigh redshift (z>0.5) source, the flux of which is integrated over the sametime interval. We discuss how to use X-ray afterglows of GRBs as distantbeacons to probe the warm (10^5 K<T<10^7 K) intergalactic matter in filamentsand outskirts of clusters of galaxies by means of absorption features, the``X-ray forest''. According to current cosmological scenarios this matter maycomprise 30-40% of the baryons in the Universe at z<1. Present-generation X-rayspectrometers such as those on Chandra and XMM-Newton can detect it along mostGRBs' lines of sight, provided afterglows are observed fast enough (withinhours) after the burst. A dedicated medium-sized X-ray telescope (effectivearea <=0.1 m^2) with pointing capabilities similar to that of Swift (minutes)and high spectral resolution (E/DeltaE>=300) would be very well suited toexploit the new diagnostic and study the physical conditions in the Universe atthe critical moment when structure is being formed.Comment: ApJ Letters in pres

Probing the Warm Intergalactic Medium through Absorption against Gamma-Ray Burst X-Ray Afterglows