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Description
Every quasar (quasi-stellar object; QSO) spectrum contains absorption-line signatures from the interstellar medium, disk-halo interface, and circumgalactic medium (CGM) of the Milky Way (MW). We analyze Hubble Space Telescope/Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) spectra of 132 QSOs to study the significance and origin of SiIV absorption at |v_LSR_|<=100km/s in the Galactic halo. The gas in the north predominantly falls in at -50<~v_LSR_<~0km/s, whereas in the south, no such pattern is observed. The SiIV column density has an average and a standard deviation of <N_SiIV_>=(3.8+/-1.4)x10^13^cm^-2^. At |b|>~30{deg}, N_SiIV_ does not significantly correlate with b, which cannot be explained by a commonly adopted flat-slab geometry. We propose a two-component model to reconstruct the N_SiIV_-b distribution: a plane-parallel component N_DH_^{perp}^ to account for the MW's disk-halo interface and a global component N_G_ to reproduce the weak dependence on b. We find N_DH_^{perp}^=1.3_-0.7_^+4.7^x10^12^cm^-2^ and N_G_=3.4+/-0.3)x10^13^cm^-2^ on the basis of Bayesian analyses and block bootstrapping. The global component is most likely to have a Galactic origin, although its exact location is uncertain. If it were associated with the MW's CGM, we would find M_gas,all_>~ 4.7x10^9^M_{sun}_(C_f_/1)(R/75kpc)^2^(f_SiIV_/0.3)^-1^(Z/0.3Z_{sun}_)^-1^ for the cool gas at all velocities in the Galactic halo. Our analyses show that there is likely a considerable amount of gas at |v_LSR_|<=100km/s hidden in the MW's CGM.
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