H i Kinematics and the E(B − V)/N(H i) Ratio

Abstract

The λ21 cm H i emission that is used to trace the gas-to-dust ratio at high Galactic latitudes has contributions from material beyond the Milky Way disk, with uncertain and likely subsolar metallicity and dust content. These contributions can be isolated kinematically and their presence is clear for sightlines with small mean reddening 〈E(B − V)〉 ≲ 0.03 mag, which have mean ratios 〈N(H i)〉/〈E(B − V)〉 that are 20%–50% above the high-latitude Galactic average 〈N(H i)〉/〈E(B − V)〉 = 8.3 × 1021 cm−2 mag−1. By mapping N(H i) and E(B − V) across H i high-velocity cloud complexes and the Magellanic Clouds, we show that the reddening of this kinematically isolated gas is on average 5 times smaller per H i than the high-latitude average. However, the aggregate contribution of this gas is small and 〈N(H i)〉/〈E(B − V)〉 = 8.3 × 1021 cm−2 mag−1 is the appropriate value for Galactic gas seen at high latitude using the H i and reddening measures employed here and in our previous work.