@article{RichterNuzaFoxetal.2017,
  author    = {Richter, Philipp and Nuza, S. E. and Fox, Andrew J. and Wakker, Bart P. and Lehner, N. and Ben Bekhti, Nadya and Fechner, Cora and Wendt, Martin and Howk, J. Christopher and Muzahid, S. and Ganguly, R. and Charlton, Jane C.},
  title     = {An HST/COS legacy survey of high-velocity ultraviolet absorption in the},
  series = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal},
  volume    = {607},
  journal   = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal},
  publisher = {EDP Sciences},
  address   = {Les Ulis},
  issn      = {1432-0746},
  doi       = {10.1051/0004-6361/201630081},
  pages     = {90},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {Context. The Milky Way is surrounded by large amounts of diffuse gaseous matter that connects the stellar body of our Galaxy with its large-scale Local Group (LG) environment. Aims. To characterize the absorption properties of this circumgalactic medium (CGM) and its relation to the LG we present the so-far largest survey of metal absorption in Galactic high-velocity clouds (HVCs) using archival ultraviolet (UV) spectra of extragalactic background sources. The UV data are obtained with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) onboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and are supplemented by 21 cm radio observations of neutral hydrogen. Methods. Along 270 sightlines we measure metal absorption in the lines of Si II, Si III, C II, and C IV and associated H I 21 cm emission in HVCs in the velocity range vertical bar v(LSR)vertical bar = 100-500 km s(-1). With this unprecedented large HVC sample we were able to improve the statistics on HVC covering fractions, ionization conditions, small-scale structure, CGM mass, and inflow rate. For the first time, we determine robustly the angular two point correlation function of the high-velocity absorbers, systematically analyze antipodal sightlines on the celestial sphere, and compare the HVC absorption characteristics with that of damped Lyman alpha absorbers (DLAs) and constrained cosmological simulations of the LG (CLUES project).},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{RichterdeBoerWerneretal.2015,
  author    = {Richter, Philipp and de Boer, Klaas S. and Werner, Klaus and Rauch, Thomas},
  title     = {High-velocity gas toward the LMC resides in the Milky Way halo},
  series = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal},
  volume    = {584},
  journal   = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal},
  publisher = {EDP Sciences},
  address   = {Les Ulis},
  issn      = {1432-0746},
  doi       = {10.1051/0004-6361/201527451},
  pages     = {4},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {Aims. To explore the origin of high-velocity gas in the direction of the Large Magellanic Cloud, (LMC) we analyze absorption lines in the ultraviolet spectrum of a Galactic halo star that is located in front of the LMC at d = 9.2(-7.2)(+4.1) kpc distance. Methods. We study the velocity-component structure of low and intermediate metal ions (CII, SiII, SiIII) in the spectrum of RXJ0439.8-6809, as obtained with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) onboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and measure equivalent widths and column densities for these ions. We supplement our COS data with a Far-Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) spectrum of the nearby LMC star Sk-69 59 and with Hi 21 cm data from the Leiden-Argentina-Bonn (LAB) survey. Results. Metal absorption toward RXJ0439.8-6809 is unambiguously detected in three different velocity components near v(LSR) = 0, + 60, and + 150 km s(-1). The presence of absorption proves that all three gas components are situated in front of the star, thus located in the disk and inner halo of the Milky Way. For the high-velocity cloud (HVC) at v(LSR) = + 150 km s(-1), we derive an oxygen abundance of [O/H] = -0.63 (similar to 0.2 solar) from the neighboring Sk-69 59 sight line, in accordance with previous abundance measurements for this HVC. From the observed kinematics we infer that the HVC hardly participates in the Galactic rotation. Conclusions. Our study shows that the HVC toward the LMC represents a Milky Way halo cloud that traces low column density gas with relatively low metallicity. We rule out scenarios in which the HVC represents material close to the LMC that stems from a LMC outflow.},
  language  = {en}
}