We have studied the small scale distribution of atomic hydrogen (HI) using 21-cm absorption spectra against multiple-component background radio continuum sources from the 21-SPONGE survey and the Millennium Arecibo Absorption Line Survey. We have found $>5\sigma$ optical depth variations at a level of $\sim0.03-0.5$ between 13 out of 14 adjacent sightlines separated by a few arcseconds to a few arcminutes, suggesting the presence of neutral structures on spatial scales from a few to thousands of AU (which we refer to as tiny scale atomic structure, TSAS)... (read more)
PDF