Josh Peek edited section_Discussion_The_clear_detection__.tex  almost 8 years ago

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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. While we cannot fully rule out the "intermediate" scenario, where the bulk of the cloud is at $\sim 5$ kpc, this velocity structure puts very tight constraints on any future model.  Finally we examine a "near" scenario, where Complex WD is only 1-3 kpc away. In this scenario the cloud originated from an area near the sun, and thus has inherited the overall solar motion, thus largely solving the fine-tuning of the LSR velocity. In the "near" scenario the cloud is ejected from the disk by some kind of impulsive event, perhaps connected to star formation in the Gould Belt, or Saggitarus Arm, imparting an overall 100 km/s bulk velocity. A cloud this far away would only be about 0.5 kpc above the disk, which is quite low for most known HVCs, and would make it distinct from all other known HVCs in it's origin. The shearing effect of differential rotation is much weaker close to the sun, which makes this impulsive scenario more credible for a closer cloud. The  somewhat symmetric Complex WE, with a similar velocity below the disk, and location, but at negative Galactic latitude,  could conceivably have been generated by the same event.