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Related papers: The origin of the high-velocity cloud complex C

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High-velocity clouds (HVCs) are multi-phase gas structures whose velocities (|v_LSR|>100 km/s) are too high to be explained by Galactic disk rotation. While large HVCs are well characterized, compact and small HVCs (with HI angular sizes of…

Neutral atomic hydrogen (HI) gas in interstellar space is largely organized into filaments, loops, and shells, the most prominent of which are "supershells". These gigantic structures requiring $\gtrsim 3 \times 10^{52}$ erg to form are…

We examine the proposal that the HI "high-velocity" clouds (HVCs) surrounding the Milky Way and other disc galaxies form by condensation of the hot galactic corona via thermal instability. Under the assumption that the galactic corona is…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-05-13 J. Binney , C. Nipoti , F. Fraternali

We use the GIBLE suite of cosmological zoom-in simulations of Milky Way-like galaxies with additional super-Lagrangian refinement in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) to quantify the origin and evolution of CGM cold gas clouds. The origin of…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-06-25 Rahul Ramesh , Dylan Nelson , Drummond Fielding , Marcus Brüggen

In galaxies like the Milky Way, cold (~ 10^4 K) gas ejected from the disc by stellar activity (the so-called galactic-fountain gas) is expected to interact with the virial-temperature (~ 10^6 K) gas of the corona. The associated transfer of…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-05-27 F. Marinacci , F. Fraternali , C. Nipoti , J. Binney , L. Ciotti , P. Londrillo

The High-Velocity Clouds (HVCs) observed in the Galactic neighbourhood, have been proposed to be remnants of the formation of the galaxies in the Local Group, having distances, and thus masses, predominantly of dark matter, considerably…

Astrophysics · Physics 2007-05-23 M. Lopez-Corredoira , J. E. Beckman , E. Casuso

We suggest that the high--velocity clouds (HVCs) are large clouds, with typical diameters of 25 kpc and containing 5e7 solar masses of neutral gas and 3e8 solar masses of dark matter, falling onto the Local Group; altogether the HVCs…

Astrophysics · Physics 2010-11-23 Leo Blitz , David N. Spergel , Peter J. Teuben , Dap Hartmann , W. Butler Burton

High velocity gas that does not conform to Galactic rotation is observed throughout the Galaxy's halo. One component of this gas, HI high velocity clouds (HVCs), have attracted attention since their discovery in the 1960s and remain…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2017-08-24 Asger Grønnow , Thor Tepper-García , Joss Bland-Hawthorn , Naomi McClure-Griffiths

The wealth of data in the past decades, and especially in the past 15 years has transformed our picture of the gas around the Milky Way and other spiral galaxies. There is good evidence for extraplanar gas that is a few kpc in height and is…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2009-07-22 Joel N. Bregman

The accretion of metal-poor gas sustains galactic star formation. In the Milky Way, this process is fueled by high-velocity clouds (HVCs), yet their fundamental properties have remained elusive in the absence of stellar tracers. Here we…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2026-03-12 Zhihong He , Wenkang Pang , Kun Wang , Yangping Luo , Qian Cui

High-Velocity Clouds (HVCs) are a major fuel reservoir for star formation in the Galactic disk. Determining their origin and kinematics is thus crucial for understanding Galactic evolution. In this paper, we employ simple test-particle…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2026-04-28 Izumi Seno , Shu-ichiro Inutsuka , Jiro Shimoda

We present two sets of grid-based hydrodynamical simulations of high-velocity clouds (HVCs) traveling through the diffuse, hot Galactic halo. These HI clouds have been suggested to provide fuel for ongoing star formation in the Galactic…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2011-02-11 Fabian Heitsch , Mary E. Putman

We report the discovery of molecular hydrogen absorption in a Galactic high-velocity cloud (HVC) in the direction of the Large Magellanic Cloud. For the same HVC we derive an iron abundance which is half of the solar value. Thus, all…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-10-31 P. Richter , K. S. de Boer , H. Widmann , N. Kappelmann , W. Gringel , M. Grewing , J. Barnstedt

Circumgalactic gas around massive galaxies generally has a volume-filling component -- an atmosphere -- with a temperature determined by the potential-well depth of the galaxy's halo. If the atmosphere is near hydrostatic equilibrium and is…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2026-02-18 G. M. Voit , B. D. Wibking , D. Yaldiz

For most of their lives, galaxies are surrounded by large and massive coronae of hot gas, which constitute vast reservoirs for gas accretion. This Chapter describes a mechanism that allows star-forming disc galaxies to extract gas from…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2017-05-31 Filippo Fraternali

The Galactic halo contains a complex ecosystem of multiphase intermediate-velocity and high-velocity gas clouds whose origin has defied clear explanation. They are generally believed to be involved in a Galaxy-wide recycling process, either…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2018-10-10 Asger Grønnow , Thor Tepper-García , Joss Bland-Hawthorn

It is argued that galaxies like ours sustain their star formation by transferring gas from an extensive corona to the star-forming disc. The transfer is effected by the galactic fountain -- cool clouds that are shot up from the plane to…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-05-18 F. Marinacci , J. Binney , F. Fraternali , C. Nipoti , L. Ciotti , P. Londrillo

We present the detection of dust depletion in Complex C, a massive, infalling, low-metallicity high-velocity cloud in the northern Galactic hemisphere that traces the ongoing accretion of gas onto the Milky Way. We analyze a very high…

Observations of molecular gas near the Galactic centre ($| l | < 10^\circ$, $| b | < 1^\circ$) reveal the presence of a distinct population of enigmatic compact clouds which are characterised by extreme velocity dispersions ($\Delta v >…

High-Velocity Clouds (HVCs) are believed to be an important source of gas accretion for star formation in the Milky Way. Earlier numerical studies have found that the Galactic magnetic field and radiative cooling strongly affects accretion.…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2021-12-08 Asger Grønnow , Thor Tepper-García , Joss Bland-Hawthorn , Filippo Fraternali