TY  - JOUR
A1  - Bouma, Sietske Jeltje Deirdre
A1  - Richter, Philipp
A1  - Fechner, Cora
T1  - A population of high-velocity absorption-line systems residing in the Local Group
JF  - Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal
N2  - Aims. We investigated the ionisation conditions and distances of Galactic high-velocity clouds (HVCs) in the Galactic halo and beyond in the direction of the Local Group (LG) barycentre and anti-barycentre, by studying spectral data of 29 extragalactic background sources obtained with the Cosmic Origins Spectropgraph (COS) installed on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Methods. We model column-densities of low, intermediate, and high ions such as Si ii, C ii, Si iii, Si vi, and C iv, and use these data to construct a set of Cloudy ionisation models. Results. In total, we found 69 high-velocity absorption components along the 29 lines of sight. The components in the direction of the LG barycentre span the entire range of studied velocities, 100 less than or similar to vertical bar nu(LSR)vertical bar less than or similar to 400 km s(-1), while those in the anti-barycentre sample have velocities up to about 300 km s(-1). For 49 components, we infer the gas densities. In the direction of the LG barycentre, the gas densities exhibit a wide range from log nH = -3.96 to -2.55, while in the anti-barycentre direction the densities are systematically higher, log nH > -3.25. The barycentre absorbers can be split into two groups based on their density: a high-density group with log nH > -3.54, which can be affected by the Milky Way radiation field, and a low-density group (log nH <= -3.54). The latter has very low thermal pressures of P/k < 7.3 Kcm(-3). Conclusions. Our study shows that part of the absorbers in the LG barycentre direction trace gas at very low gas densities and thermal pressures. These properties indicate that the absorbers are located beyond the virial radius of the Milky Way. Our study also confirms results from earlier, single-sightline studies, suggesting the presence of a metal-enriched intragroup medium filling the LG near its barycentre.
KW  - Galaxy: halo
KW  - Galaxy: structure
KW  - Galaxy: evolution
KW  - ISM: kinematics and dynamics
KW  - techniques: spectroscopic
KW  - ultraviolet: ISM
Y1  - 2019
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201935078
SN  - 1432-0746
VL  - 627
PB  - EDP Sciences
CY  - Les Ulis
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Fox, Andrew J.
A1  - Richter, Philipp
A1  - Ashley, Trisha
A1  - Heckman, Timothy M.
A1  - Lehner, Nicolas
A1  - Werk, Jessica K.
A1  - Bordoloi, Rongmon
A1  - Peeples, Molly S.
T1  - The Mass Inflow and Outflow Rates of the Milky Way
JF  - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics
N2  - We present new calculations of the mass inflow and outflow rates around the Milky Way (MW), derived from a catalog of ultraviolet metal-line high-velocity clouds (HVCs). These calculations are conducted by transforming the HVC velocities into the Galactic standard of rest (GSR) reference frame, identifying inflowing (vGSR.<.0 km s(-1)) and outflowing (vGSR > 0 km s(-1)) populations, and using observational constraints on the distance, metallicity, dust content, covering fractions, and total silicon column density of each population. After removing HVCs associated with the Magellanic Stream and the Fermi Bubbles, we find inflow and outflow rates in cool (T similar to 10(4) K) ionized gas of dM(in)/dt greater than or similar to.(0.53 +/- 0.23)(d/12 kpc)(Z/0.2Z(circle dot))-1M(circle dot) yr(-1) and dM(out)/dt greater than or similar to (0.16 +/- 0.07)(d/12 kpc)(Z/0.5Z(circle dot))M--1(circle dot) yr(-1). The apparent excess of inflowing over outflowing gas suggests that the MW is currently in an inflow-dominated phase, but the presence of substantial mass flux in both directions supports a Galactic fountain model, in which gas is constantly recycled between the disk and the halo. We also find that the metal flux in both directions (in and out) is indistinguishable. By comparing the outflow rate to the Galactic star formation rate, we present the first estimate of the mass loading factor (eta(HVC)) of the disk-wide MW wind, finding eta(HVC) greater than or similar to (0.10 +/- 0.06)(d/12 kpc)(Z/0.5Z(circle dot))(-1). Including the contributions from low- and intermediatevelocity clouds and from hot gas would increase these inflow and outflow estimates.
Y1  - 2019
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab40ad
SN  - 0004-637X
SN  - 1538-4357
VL  - 884
IS  - 1
PB  - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  -