A population of weak metal-line absorbers surrounding the Milky Way

Details A population of weak metal-line absorbers surrounding the Milky Way A population of weak metal-line absorbers surrounding the Milky Way

2009-01-16

arxiv.org/abs/0901.2567v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Galaxy Astrophysics

45 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

Scientific paper

10.1088/0004-637X/695/2/1631

We report on the detection of a population of weak metal-line absorbers in the halo or nearby intergalactic environment of the Milky Way. Using high-resolution ultraviolet absorption-line spectra of bright QSOs obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS), along six sight lines we have observed unsaturated, narrow absorption in OI and SiII together with mildly saturated CII absorption at high radial velocities (|v_LSR|=100-320 km/s). The measured OI column densities are small, implying that these structures represent Lyman-Limit Systems and sub-Lyman-Limit System with HI column densities < 3x10^18 cm^-2, thus below the detection limits of current 21cm all-sky surveys of high-velocity clouds (HVCs). The absorbers apparently are not directly associated with any of the large high-column density HVC complexes, but rather represent isolated, partly neutral gas clumps embedded in a more tenuous, ionized gaseous medium situated in the halo or nearby intergalactic environment of the Galaxy. We speculate that this absorber population represents the local analog of weak MgII systems that are commonly observed in the circumgalactic environment of low- and high-redshift galaxies.

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