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A High-Metallicity High Velocity Cloud along the MRK 421 Sight Line: A Tracer of Complex M?

We present a new measurement, 0.85-3.5 Z_solar, of the metallicity of high velocity cloud (HVC) Complex M by analyzing ultraviolet spectroscopic observations of the blazar Mrk 421 taken with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope and the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer. Although an HVC at V_LSR = -131 km/s is not visible in 21 cm emission (logN_HI<18.38; 3sigma), it is detected in ultraviolet absorption lines of C II, N I, O I, O VI, Si II, Si III, Si IV, Fe II, and HI. By referencing velocities to the intermediate velocity cloud at -60 km/s and jointly analyzing HI absorption from high-order HI Lyman lines, we measure logN_HI=16.84(0.13,+0.34) (1sigma) in the HVC. Comparing HI, and O I, we find an HVC metallicity [O/H]=0.32(-0.39, +0.22). Because the sight line passes 4 degrees from the HVCs in Complex M, the detected HVC may represent the highest velocity component of the Complex, and our measurements provide a lower limit to its metallicity. The high, possibly super-solar metallicity, together with the low distance, z<3.5 kpc, above the Galactic plane suggest that Complex M is condensed returning gas from a Galactic fountain.