The Small-scale Structure in Interstellar HI: A Resolvable Puzzle

Abstract

During the past decade or so, measurements of Galactic HI absorption using VLBI against extra-galactic sources, as well as multi-epoch observatios in pulsar directions, have detected small-scale transverse variations corresponding to tens of AU at the distance of the absorbing matter. Hitherto these measurements have been interpreted as small-scale structure in the HI distribution with densities n_{HI} ~ 10^4-10^5 per cc, orders of magnitude greater than those of the parsec-scale structure. Naturally it is difficult to imagine how such structures could exist in equilibrium with other components of the ISM. In this paper we show that structure on all scales contributes to the differences on neighbouring lines of sight, and that the observed differences can be accounted for by a natural extension of the distribution of irregularities in the distribution of HI opacities at larger scales, using a single power law. This, in our opinion, should put an end to the decades long puzzle of the so-called small-scale structure in HI and other species in the Galaxy.