Unsolved Mysteries of High-Velocity Clouds

Details Unsolved Mysteries of High-Velocity Clouds Unsolved Mysteries of High-Velocity Clouds

Jan 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004assl..312..371b&link_type=abstract

High Velocity Clouds. Edited by Hugo van Woerden, Kapteyn Institute, Groningen, The Netherlands; Bart P. Wakker, University of W

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

1

Scientific paper

This contribution explores three "unsolved" mysteries of the high-velocity clouds: what surrounds HVCs, what makes up HVCs, and are HVCs important? Most models of HVCs assume, for convenience, that they exist in an isothermal, static Galactic Halo, but this chapter shows that there is considerable uncertainty in the density, temperature, ionization, and velocity structure of the gaseous environs of the Galaxy. Most treatments of HVCs concentrate on the neutral gas, but the ionized gas and possible dark matter could be the dominant component by mass. There are even hints that some HVCs could be completely ionized. Magnetic fields, dust, and molecular gas also play a relatively unconstrained role in shaping HVC structure. Depending on the total mass reservoir represented by HVCs, they could play an important role in galactic chemical evolution, and may provide our sole way of studying the low-mass dark-matter potential wells expected in ΛCDM models of galaxy formation. The more we learn about HVCs, the more mysterious and tantalizing they become.

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