Scattering of stars by interstellar clouds or massive clumps increases the stellar velocity dispersion and promotes a radial disk profile that is exponential. Here we show that such scattering reaches a steady-state distribution function of stellar eccentricity, after which eccentricity increases and decreases occur at equal rates. The implication is that clump/cloud scattering recircularizes eccentric stellar orbits, keeping the stellar velocity dispersion in a limited range. This re-circularization regulates disk heating and maintains kinematic coherence, contributing to the longevity of disk structures. The eccentricity distribution function and the presence of recircularizing cloud-star interactions are independent of cloud mass but the timescale to reach equilibrium decreases with increasing mass. The calculations are made in the simplest possible disk system to highlight the effects of scattering without contamination from spiral waves, star formation, and other processes. The calculations also reveal a bifurcation in the disk evolutions whereby in a minority of cases temporary asymmetries in the clump spatial distribution drive the disks to an end state of increased velocity dispersion and orbital eccentricity corresponding to early type disks. Overall the models emphasize an important physical process that can make and maintain an exponential stellar disk in all galaxies with a cloudy interstellar medium.
This paper presents the twentieth data release (DR20) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the third data release of its fifth generation (SDSS-V). SDSS-V is a panoptic spectroscopy survey that is mapping the stars, gas, and galaxies through three scientific programs: the Milky Way Mapper (MWM), the Local Volume Mapper (LVM), and the Black Hole Mapper (BHM). DR20 presents the first optical (BOSS) SDSS-V spectra from southern hemisphere for the MWM and BHM surveys; new optical MWM and BHM data from the northern hemisphere are also available, for a total over 3 million spectra of 1.5 million stars and half a million galaxies and quasars, with galactic and extragalactic x-ray targets coordinate with eROSITA DR2. DR20 includes integral field spectroscopy maps from LVM of six targets and 169 tiles, spanning Galactic HII regions, planetary nebulae, and nearby galaxies. Additionally, eighteen value added catalogs are also released with DR20, based on SDSS-V MWM and BHM data, and we present a new LVM visualization tool including an RGB HiPS map as a value added product.
We present a detailed analysis of a massive barred galaxy at z_spec=3.1591 using deep multi-band imaging from HST and JWST. For the first time, we resolve its morphology and stellar structures thanks to the JWST/NIRCam NIR and MIR photometry. The galaxy possesses two distinct components with significantly different colors. Through careful image decomposition and masking, we isolate and characterize the flux contribution from each component. The galaxy exhibits a clear spiral morphology, and in a separate companion paper, we present evidence suggesting the presence of a stellar bar. Based on spatially resolved spectral energy distribution modeling with Prospector, we derive the star formation history and other physical properties of the bar and the surrounding regions. The total stellar mass of the galaxy is constrained as log(M_*/M_⊙) = 10.63±0.13. We find that the bar region contains around 30
In the hierarchical framework of galaxy formation, disk galaxies are shaped by a sequence of mergers and interactions, yet reconstructing this history from observations remains challenging. We show that the merger history of a galaxy leaves measurable imprints in the vertical structure of its stellar disk. Using Milky Way analogues from the TNG50 simulations, we demonstrate that the Age-thickness relation, quantified by the dispersion of vertical stellar positions (Δ_z), encodes both the dynamical heating of pre-existing stars and the birth conditions of stars formed during perturbed phases. Major mergers produce pronounced, step-like features in the Age-Δ_z relation, reflecting strong disk heating and subsequent re-formation of a thin disk, while flyby interactions generate weaker, localized enhancements associated primarily with disturbed star formation. We show that this diagnostic is robust across different locations within the disk and largely insensitive to fractional distance uncertainties lower than 20%, though its temporal resolution is limited by uncertainties in stellar ages. Because the Age-Δ_z relation relies only on stellar positions and ages, it provides an observationally accessible alternative to traditional kinematic diagnostics. With current and upcoming surveys mapping the Milky Way with unprecedented precision, this framework offers a new avenue for reconstructing the merger history of our Galaxy and probing the dynamical evolution of disk galaxies across cosmic time.
It is now possible to directly measure the accelerations that arise from the distribution of (dark) matter in the Milky Way. These acceleration-based measurements of the local dark matter density are now becoming competitive with estimates obtained through traditional kinematic techniques such as Jeans modeling. While classical methods can now draw on the positions and velocities of many millions of stars, recent acceleration-based studies have used fewer than 100 sources, yet achieve comparable precision. A key limitation of kinematic approaches is their reliance on assumptions of dynamical equilibrium and symmetry; direct acceleration measurements do not inherently suffer from this constraint. We find that, for the specific problem of estimating the local dark matter density, a single direct acceleration measurement can provide information comparable to ∼10^5 stars. We test the theoretical performance of direct acceleration techniques and Jeans modeling in estimating the local dark matter density using hydrodynamical N-body simulations of a MW-like galaxy, both in isolation and including a Sagittarius-like dwarf to generate disequilibrium. In the equilibrium scenario, Jeans modeling requires one thousand times more sources to achieve the same precision as the direct acceleration approach. This confirms that the per-source information advantage is intrinsic, and does not require disequilibrium to manifest. However, in the perturbed disk, the acceleration-based approach outperforms the Jeans analysis regardless of how many stars are available, due to significant bias in the result inferred from kinematics alone. Our results support earlier findings that non-equilibrium dynamics in the Galactic disk cause Jeans-based methods to systematically overestimate the local dark matter density; we show that this issue may also be present in other types of kinematic studies.
Situated on opposite sides of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), the star-forming regions N11 and 30 Doradus trace different evolutionary stages. Approximately 2 Myr more evolved, N11 serves as a proxy for later evolutionary stages of 30 Doradus. We study the (1) kinematics, (2) column density distribution, (3) ionization conditions, and (4) mass, mass outflow rate, and mass loading factor of the outflows from N11 and compare them with the wind from 30 Doradus. We probe N11 along 24 “down-the-barrel” sight lines using UV absorption-line observations from the Hubble Space Telescope Ultraviolet Legacy Library of Young Stars as Essential Standards survey and H i 21 cm emission-line observations from the Galactic All Sky Survey and Galactic Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder. N11 predominantly generates a slow-moving wind that reaches speeds of ∼90 km s ^−1 beyond the LMC’s disk. At v _LSR ≤ +175 km s ^−1 , the origin of the gas clouds becomes ambiguous; they could be associated with the LMC and/or the Milky Way. The fast- and slow-moving absorbers have medium (4 km s ^–1 ≲ b ≲ 10 km s ^−1 ) to broad ( b ≳ 15.0 km s ^−1 ) widths, indicating the influence of nonthermal processes. We estimate that the outflows are ∼25%–69% ionized. Assuming that these winds are symmetric about both sides of the LMC, N11 has ejected M _baryon,sym = (3.7 ± 1.5) × 10 ^5 M _⊙ of gas at a rate of 0.02–0.07 M _⊙ yr ^−1 . The N11 stellar activity drives this material out at an efficiency—described by the mass-loading factor—of ${\eta }_{\mathrm{sym}}=2.{2}_{-1.3}^{+0.9}$ . These winds correspond to 2%–4% of the global LMC outflow for the low-ionization species.
We present the most comprehensive study to date of the relationship between bars, star formation, and galaxy properties from z ∼ 0 to z ∼ 2. We use a mass-complete sample of 1,171 galaxies from the JWST CEERS survey with M_⋆ > 10^10 M_⊙ and repeat the analysis using COSMOS-Web data. Our results are: 1) At high redshift (z ∼ 1-2) barred galaxies tend to have high sSFRs and low Sérsic indices (n ≤ 2), while at low redshifts barred galaxies emerge with both low sSFR and higher n, suggestive of quiescent galaxies with bulges. 2) The fractional contribution of barred quiescent galaxies to the bar fraction rises steeply from z ∼ 2 to z ∼ 0, while that of barred actively star-forming galaxies falls. 3) The fraction of quiescent galaxies that are barred rises steeply over the last 10 Gyr. 4) Our empirical results show good agreement with the TNG50-1 simulations for bars with a_bar > 1.5 kpc. Our results allow for the possibility that bar-driven secular evolution may lead to quiescence and/or that bars are more likely to persist and grow in gas-poor, quiescent galaxies. The steep rise in the quiescent bar fraction over 10 Gyr may represent an evolutionary sequence whereby gas-rich disks at high redshift first develop short, dynamically young bars and over time, repeated bar-driven gas inflows lead to central starbursts and declining gas fractions that strengthen the bar as the galaxy transitions toward quiescence.
The formation of stellar bars is an important milestone in the secular evolution of spiral galaxies, which typically indicates the presence of a massive rotationally supported disk. Determining when these structures first appeared in the early universe is crucial to constraining the timeline of galactic disk assembly. Here, we report the discovery of COSMOS-74706, a barred spiral galaxy at z_spec = 3.159. Imaging of COSMOS-74706 with JWST/NIRCam indicates a disk-like morphology and spiral structure with an elongated central feature aligned between the spiral arms, most conspicuously visible in the F200W, F277W, and F356W filters. Three independent methods all support the presence of a bar: visual inspection of residuals from Sérsic-profile fitting shows a linear structure, isophotal ellipse-fitting displays characteristic profiles of ellipticity and position angle consistent with a bar signature, and Fourier decomposition of the galaxy produces a central bisymmetric mode above a threshold strength calibrated to z=1-3 barred spirals. Leveraging archival Keck/MOSDEF spectroscopy overlapping with a blue clump on the edge of the galaxy, a robust redshift is inferred, with photometric constraints indicating that this structure lies at the same redshift as the main spiral. This spectroscopic evidence, placing an unlensed barred spiral at z>3 supports the idea that galaxies with rotationally supported disks and disk-halo properties that are conducive to bar formation were already in place within 2 Gyr after the Big Bang.
Mapping the local and distant Universe is key to our understanding of it. For decades, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) has made a concerted effort to map millions of celestial objects to constrain the physical processes that govern our Universe. The most recent and fifth generation of SDSS (SDSS-V) is organized into three scientific "mappers": the Milky Way Mapper, which aims to chart the various components of the Milky Way and constrain its formation and assembly; the Black Hole Mapper, which focuses on understanding supermassive black holes in distant galaxies across the Universe; and the Local Volume Mapper, which uses integral field spectroscopy to map the ionized interstellar medium in the Local Group. This paper describes the scope and content for the nineteenth data release (DR19) of SDSS, which is the most substantial to date in SDSS-V. DR19 is the first to contain data from all three mappers. Additionally, we also describe nine value-added catalogs that enhance the science that can be conducted with the SDSS-V data. Finally, we discuss how to access SDSS DR19 and provide illustrative examples and tutorials.
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey V (SDSS-V) is pioneering panoptic spectroscopy: it is the first all-sky, multiepoch, optical-to-infrared spectroscopic survey. SDSS-V is mapping the sky with multiobject spectroscopy (MOS) at telescopes in both hemispheres (the 2.5 m Sloan Foundation Telescope at Apache Point Observatory and the 100-inch du Pont Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory), where 500 zonal robotic fiber positioners feed light from a wide-field focal plane to an optical (R similar to 2000, 500 fibers) and a near-infrared (R similar to 22,000, 300 fibers) spectrograph. In addition to these MOS capabilities, the survey is pioneering ultra-wide-field (similar to 4000 deg(2)) integral field spectroscopy enabled by a new dedicated facility (LVM-I) at Las Campanas Observatory, where an integral field spectrograph (IFS) with 1801 lenslet-coupled fibers arranged in a 0 degrees.5-diameter hexagon feeds multiple R similar to 4000 optical spectrographs that cover 3600-9800 angstrom. SDSS-V's hardware and multiyear survey strategy are designed to decode the chemodynamical history of the Milky Way and tackle fundamental open issues in stellar physics in its Milky Way Mapper program, trace the growth physics of supermassive black holes in its Black Hole Mapper program, and understand the self-regulation mechanisms and the chemical enrichment of galactic ecosystems at the energy injection scale in its Local Volume Mapper program. The survey is well timed to multiply the scientific output from major all-sky space missions. The SDSS-V MOS programs began robotic operations in 2021; IFS observations began in 2023 with the completion of the LVM-I facility. SDSS-V builds on decades of heritage of SDSS's pioneering advances in data analysis, collaboration spirit, infrastructure, and product deliverables in astronomy.
FAST observations have recently identified a compact HI cloud (hereafter Cloud-9) in the vicinity of the spiral galaxy M94. This identification has been confirmed independently by VLA and GBT observations. Cloud-9 has the same recession velocity as M94, and is therefore at a similar distance (∼4.4 Mpc). It is compact (∼1' radius, or ∼1.4 kpc), dynamically cold (W_50=12 km/s), non-rotating, and fairly massive, with an HI mass of ∼ 10^6 M_⊙. Here we present deep HST/ACS imaging designed to search for a luminous stellar counterpart. We visually rule out the presence of any dwarf galaxy with stellar mass exceeding 10^3.5M_⊙. A more robust color-magnitude diagram-based analysis rules out a 10^4M_⊙ stellar counterpart with 99.5% confidence. The non-detection of a luminous component reinforces the interpretation that this system is a Reionization-Limited HI Cloud (RELHIC); i.e., a starless dark matter halo filled with hydrostatic gas in thermal equilibrium with the cosmic ultraviolet background. Our results make Cloud-9 the leading RELHIC candidate of any known compact HI cloud. This provides strong support for a cornerstone prediction of the ΛCDM model, namely the existence of gas-filled starless dark matter halos on sub-galactic mass scales, and constrains the present-day threshold halo mass for galaxy formation.
We identify and investigate a preinfall analog of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMCs, SMCs) in the High-Resolution Environmental Simulations of the Immediate Area suite of constrained cosmological simulations. The system, dynamically isolated from the Local Group, evolves over ∼6 Gyr and forms a multiphase warm coronal halo and a neutral gas stream via repeated tidal interactions, ∼150 kpc in length. The LMC analog’s corona forms self-consistently through virial accretion and inhibits the survival of clumpy neutral structures beyond ∼600 Myr. The SMC analog remains bound through to z = 0, and the pair also exhibits bridge-like and leading-arm features. These results suggest that while most of the ionized stream is formed by the LMC coronal gas, the neutral gas stream, bridge, and leading arm components of the Magellanic System can arise from dwarf–dwarf interactions prior to infall, while the survival and ionization of these features likely require additional environmental processing. Furthermore, we identify a stellar component out of phase to the neutral component of the stream, implying that if the Magellanic stellar stream exists, it may not be spatially coexistent to the dominant H i stream. This system offers a valuable preinfall reference point for interpreting the Magellanic System and identifying analogs beyond the Local Group.
The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) has experienced disruption from tidal and ram-pressure forces as it travels through the halo of the Milky Way. In this project, we combine radio emission-line observations from the Galactic All Sky Survey and Galactic Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder surveys with UV absorption-line observations from the Hubble Space Telescope Ultraviolet Legacy Library of Young Stars as Essential Standards (ULLYSES) program to trace the material in front of the LMC. Along our eight stellar sight lines near 30 Doradus, we observe gaseous structures likely associated with two arm-like features flowing in and around the LMC's disk. We detect the nearside gas in neutral, low-, and medium-ionization species. The lower-ionization species likely undergo both thermal and nonthermal broadening while the moderately ionized phase is influenced by more nonthermal processes. The total integrated column density of Al iii decreases with increasing angular offset from 30 Doradus, with sight lines within Delta theta less than or similar to 0 .degrees 25 containing more moderately ionized gas. We demonstrate from a Gaussian decomposition technique on the H i emission that both arms likely trace an additional similar to 1.degrees 0 in Galactic longitude toward the 30 Doradus region than previously predicted. We constrain the orientation of the arms by suggesting that they likely converge around (l,b)=(280.degrees 5,-31.degrees 2) and at least partially cross in front of the LMC. Our observations are consistent with two competing origins of the arms: (1) outflowing material is swept back by tidal and ram-pressure forces or (2) tidally stripped inflows fuel the ongoing stellar activity inside the LMC. Future studies are needed to distinguish between these scenarios.
Classical bulges and stellar bars are common features in disk galaxies and serve as key tracers of galactic evolution. Angular momentum exchange at bar resonances drives secular morphological changes throughout the disk, including bar slowing and lengthening, and affects the structure of accompanying bulges. In this study, using a suite of N-body simulations, we quantify the secular reconfiguration of classical bulges through resonant trapping by evolving stellar bars. We use orbital frequency analysis to identify bar-resonant populations and find that up to 50 in 2:1 resonant orbits and adopt disk-like kinematics. This transformation renders much of the classical bulge observationally indistinguishable from the disk. We compare these results with a sample of 210 MaNGA disk galaxies, finding that slow bars–indicative of older systems–are preferentially associated with weaker bulges. These results suggest that long-lived bars can significantly reshape classical bulges, potentially explaining their scarcity in the local universe and the low classical bulge fraction found in the Milky Way.
The generation of spiral arms and the mechanisms controlling their properties within a realistic cosmological framework - the complete understanding is still beyond our grasp. Using a statistically significant sample of Milky Way- and Andromeda-like (MW/M31) analogs from the high-resolution TNG50 cosmological simulation, we carry out the first systematic investigation of spiral-arm formation, their observable properties, and the underlying physical drivers. The selected analogs predominantly exhibit two-armed (m = 2) spirals in both stars and gas, while the gaseous disks often display stronger, more tightly wound, and multi-armed patterns (m>2). Spiral features appear across stellar populations of different ages, confirming their density-wave nature and producing coherent spirals in both metallicity and mean stellar age distributions-consistent with recent Gaia observations of the Milky Way. Our analysis reveals a diverse dynamical scenario for spiral generation: gas content, disk coldness, and shear jointly regulate the growth and morphology of spiral perturbations. We find that the gas content and the dynamical coldness of the disk jointly regulate spiral growth: galaxies with higher gas fractions and colder disks develop more prominent spirals. The measured relation between spiral pitch angle and disk shear shows significant scatter around the analytic prediction, likely due to the combined influence of bars, gas inflows, and feedback. These results demonstrate that spiral density waves can persist in fully cosmological disks, linking internal dynamical processes to galaxy assembly and offering testable predictions for present and future surveys such as JWST and Roman.
Galactic bars and their associated resonances play a significant role in shaping galaxy evolution. Resulting resonance-driven structures, like the vertically extended Boxy/Peanut X-Feature (BPX), then serve as a useful probe of the host galaxy's history. In this study, we quantify the impact of a classical bulge on the evolution of the bar and the growth of bar resonance structures. This is accomplished with a suite of isolated N-body disk galaxy simulations with bulge mass fractions ranging from 0% to 16% of the disk mass. We apply frequency analysis to the stellar orbits to analyze the variations in resonance structure evolution. Our findings indicate that a more massive initial bulge leads to the formation of a stronger and more extended bar and that each bar drives the formation of a prominent associated BPX through resonance passage. In this work, we present evidence that the formation of a BPX is driven by planar, bar-supporting orbits evolving through interaction with horizontal and vertical bar-resonances. More orbits become vertically extended when these resonances intersect, and the rate of the orbits passing through resonance is moderated by the overall fraction of vertically extended orbits. A significant bulge stabilizes the fraction of vertically extended orbits, preventing sudden resonance-induced changes. Crucially, neither sudden resonance intersection nor prolonged resonance trapping is required for BPX formation.
Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope observations have recently identified a compact H i cloud (hereafter Cloud-9) in the vicinity of the spiral galaxy M94. This identification has been confirmed independently by Very Large Array and Green Bank Telescope observations. Cloud-9 has the same recession velocity as M94, and is therefore at a similar distance (∼4.4 Mpc). It is compact ( ∼ 1 ′ radius, or ∼1.4 kpc), dynamically cold ( W 50 = 12 km s −1 ), nonrotating, and fairly massive, with an H i mass of ∼10 6 M ⊙ . Here we present deep Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys imaging designed to search for a luminous stellar counterpart. We visually rule out the presence of any dwarf galaxy with stellar mass exceeding 10 3.5 M ⊙ . A more robust color–magnitude diagram-based analysis conservatively rules out a 10 4 M ⊙ stellar counterpart with 99 . 5 − 8.2 + 0.5 % confidence. The nondetection of a luminous component reinforces the interpretation that this system is a reionization-limited H i cloud (RELHIC); i.e., a starless dark matter halo filled with hydrostatic gas in thermal equilibrium with the cosmic ultraviolet background. Our results make Cloud-9 the leading RELHIC candidate of any known compact H i cloud. This provides strong support for a cornerstone prediction of the Lambda cold dark matter model, namely the existence of gas-filled starless dark matter halos on subgalactic mass scales, and constrains the present-day threshold halo mass for galaxy formation.
We analysed the three-dimensional structure and kinematics of two samples of young stars in the Galactic disc, containing young giants (similar to 17 000 stars out to heliocentric distances of similar to 7 kpc) and classical Cepheids (similar to 3400 stars out to heliocentric distances of similar to 15 kpc), respectively. The vertical structure of the two samples exhibit a consistent shape of the Milky Way's warp, whose amplitude reaches similar to 700 pc at a galactocentric radius R similar to 14 kpc. Moreover, both samples show evidence of a large-scale vertical corrugation on top of the warp with a vertical height of similar to 150-200 pc, extending over a large portion of the Galactic disc between galactocentric radii of R similar to 10-12 kpc in the third Galactic quadrant (galactic longitudes of 180 degrees < l < 270 degrees) and similar to 12-14 kpc in the second Galactic quadrant (90 degrees < l < 180 degrees). Its total length is at least 10 kpc and could possibly reach similar to 20 kpc with respect to the Cepheid sample. The stars in the corrugation exhibit both radial and vertical systematic motions, with galactocentric radial velocities of about 10-15 km/s directed towards the outer disc. In the vertical motions, once the warp signature is subtracted, the residuals show a large-scale feature of systematically positive vertical velocities, which is shifted to slightly larger galactocentric radii with respect to the spatial vertical corrugation (with a phase difference of roughly pi/2), indicating an oscillatory behaviour. A comparison of the observed shift with a simple toy model suggests that the corrugation can be interpreted as a wave propagating towards the outer disc. The wave mapped in this work is located at larger heliocentric distances compared to the Radcliffe wave, which is a similar to 2.7 kpc filament of dense gas clouds close to the Sun, and exhibits a larger coverage of the Galactic disc.
We investigate the origin of warps in stellar disks using high-resolution Milky Way analogs from the IllustrisTNG50 simulation. Focusing on galaxies that experienced a major merger, we identify a characteristic azimuthal misalignment between the warp structures of stellar populations formed before and after the merger. This misalignment persists even after correcting for differential rotation, suggesting it is a dynamical imprint of the merger rather than a consequence of internal kinematics. In contrast, galaxies without significant merger events show no such offset between stellar populations of different ages. These findings support the scenario in which mergers can induce long-lived warps and leave detectable structural signatures in stellar disks. Applied to the Milky Way, this approach offers a potential way to test whether the Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus merger contributed to the formation of the Galactic warp. It may also provide an independent means to constrain the timing of such merger events by examining the phase offsets in the stellar warp as a function of stellar age.
Widespread galactic winds emanate from the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), with the 30 Doradus starburst region generating the fastest and most concentrated gas flows. We report on the gas distribution, kinematics, and ionization conditions of the near-side outflow along 8 down-the-barrel sightlines using UV absorption-line observations from the HST's ULLYSES program for this region along with H I 21-cm observations from the GASS and GASKAP surveys. We find that within 1.7 degrees from the center of 30 Doradus, the wind reaches maximum speeds of $100-150\,\text{km}\,\text{s}^{-1}$ from the LMC's disk. The total integrated column densities of low-ions (O I, Si II, and Fe II) in the blueshifted wind, up to $v_{\rm LSR}=150\,\text{km}\,\text{s}^{-1}$, are highest near the center and decline radially outward. We estimate an outflow mass of $M_{\rm outflow,\,Si II}\approx(5.7-8.6)\,\times 10^{5} M_{\odot}$, outflow rate of $\dot{M}_{\rm outflow}\gtrsim0.02 M_{\odot}\,\text{yr}^{-1}$, and mass loading factor of $\eta\gtrsim0.10$ within 0.52 degrees from the center of 30 Doradus. The observed ion ratios$-$together with photoionization modeling$-$reveal that this wind is roughly $40-97\%$ photoionized. The metallicities and dust depletion patterns of the high-velocity absorbers at $v_{\rm LSR}\approx+120\,\text{km}\,\text{s}^{-1}$ can be explained by either a foreground Milky Way (MW) halo cloud or an outflow from the LMC. For the high-ions, Si IV and C IV are broader and kinematically offset from the low-ions, suggesting turbulent mixing layers (TMLs) existing in the wind. Finally, our hydrodynamical simulations of the Magellanic Clouds (MCs) and MW system suggest that the Magellanic Corona can protect the LMC winds from the ram-pressure forces exerted by the MW's halo.