Year: 2003
Type: article
Abstract: We test the hypothesis that high-velocity gas cloud Complex C is actually a high-latitude spiral arm extension in the direction of the Galactic warp, as opposed to the standard interpretation — that of a once extragalactic, but now infalling, gas cloud. A parallel Tree N-body code was employed to simulate the tidal interaction of a satellite perturber with the Milky Way. We find that a model incorporating a perturber of the mass of the Large Magellanic Cloud on a south to north polar orbit, crossing the disk at ˜15 kpc, does yield a high-velocity, high-latitude extension consistent with the spatial, kinematical, and column density properties of Complex C. Unless this massive satellite remains undiscovered because of either a fortuitous alignment with the Galactic bulge (feasible within the framework of the model), or the lack of any associated baryonic component, we conclude that this alternative interpretation appears unlikely.
DOI: 10.1071/as03028
Authors: Daisuke Kawata, Christopher Thom, Brad K. Gibson
Institution: Swinburne University of Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2000945516