Josh Peek edited section_Discussion_The_clear_detection__.tex  almost 8 years ago

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The clear detection of Ca II H \& K absorption at +100 km/s in USNO-A0600-15865535, coincident with HI emission from Complex WD, indicates that the complex is closer than the star, at a distance 5.2 kpc. The column of Ca II measured is comparable between the cloud and the disk, even though they have wildly different HI columns. This is consistent with the weak \cite{Wakker_2000} or non-existent \cite{Bekhti_2012} correlation between HI and Ca II column density, which also explains the non-detection of the small intermediate velocity cloud along the line of sight at 60 km/s. Unfortunately, this lack of correlation makes it impossible to infer anything about the metallicity of the cloud from these metal absorption lines. Future metallicity measurements, perhaps toward USNO-A0600-15865535, will be critical in determining the origin of Complex WD.   The kinematics and location of complex Complex  WD do give us some clues as to its origin. Originally \cite{1991A&A...250..509W} suggested that because complex WD is at positive velocity it is likely part of the structure of the Galaxy itself co-rotating with the disk. We call this the "far" scenario in Figure \ref{fig:contour}, and it is emphatically ruled out by our detection of absorption. The appeal of the scenario is quite clear from the Figure -- a distant cloud could easily be nicely corotating with the disk.  We now know that Complex WD is mostly inside the solar circle toward the fourth quadrant, ruling out the "far" scenario originally proposed for this cloud by Wakker. quadrant.  Along the line of sight to USNO-A0600-15865535, Complex WD sits above a portion of the disk moving at -30 km/s LSR if we assumit assum it  it is at the maximal distnace of 5.2 kpc, decreasing to 0 km/s LSR as we assume a closer distance (see Figure \ref{fig:contour}). distance.  Complex WD is therefore strongly not in corotation with the disk. This is in rather stark contrast with other HVCs; a simplified model of HVCs with known distances found that they rotated with the disk at 77 km/s -- slower than Galactic rotation, but with the same sense \citep{Putman_2012}. A number of scenarios could account for an overall difference in velocity between the cloud and the disk. An accreting cloud could easily have a much lower accretion velocity than the rotation speed of the disk, and the positive velocity observed could be an artifact of the solar motion. Similarly, it is possible that Complex WD is material ejected from star-forming regions closer to Galactic center \citep[e.g.][]{Ford_2010}, and thus the high positive velocity is an effect of the lower specific angular momemtum of that material. Both of these scenarios suffer from the fine tuning required to meet the very small LSR velocity gradient found in the Complex. A flux-weighted first-order polynomial fit to the velocity gradient in the Wakker \& van Woerden 1991 catalog of WD clouds find $-0.072 \pm 0.146$ km/s per degree of Galactic longitude. The reflex velocity of the solar motion represents 100 km/s across 40 degrees of Complex WD -- unless the Cloud is conspiring to thwart our detection of a velocity gradient, we should see some effect of the solar motion.