Observation of Acceleration of H i Clouds within the Fermi Bubbles

Abstract

The ∼200 H i clouds observed to be entrained in the Fermi bubble wind show a trend of increasing maximum with Galactic latitude. We analyze previous observations and present new data from the Green Bank Telescope that rule out systematic effects as the source of this phenomenon. Instead, it is likely evidence for acceleration of the clouds. The data suggest that clouds in the lower 2 kpc of the Fermi bubbles, within the bubble boundaries established from X-ray studies, have an outflow velocity that rises from ≈150 to 200 close to the Galactic center and reaches ≈330 at a distance of 2.5–3.5 kpc. These parameters are also consistent with the kinematics of ultraviolet absorption lines from highly ionized species observed against two targets behind the Fermi bubbles at b  = −6.°6 and b  = +11.°2. The implied neutral cloud lifetime is 4–10 Myr.