72 research outputs found
The Arecibo HII Region Discovery Survey
We report the detection of radio recombination line emission (RRL) using the
Arecibo Observatory at X-band (9GHz, 3cm) from 37 previously unknown HII
regions in the Galactic zone 66 deg. > l > 31 deg. and |b| < 1 deg. This
Arecibo HII Region Discovery Survey (Arecibo HRDS) is a continuation of the
Green Bank Telescope (GBT) HRDS. The targets for the Arecibo HRDS have
spatially coincident 24 micron and 20 cm emission of a similar angular
morphology and extent. To take advantage of Arecibo's sensitivity and small
beam size, sources in this sample are fainter, smaller in angle, or in more
crowded fields compared to those of the GBT HRDS. These Arecibo nebulae are
some of the faintest HII regions ever detected in RRL emission. Our detection
rate is 58%, which is low compared to the 95% detection rate for GBT HRDS
targets. We derive kinematic distances to 23 of the Arecibo HRDS detections.
Four nebulae have negative LSR velocities and are thus unambiguously in the
outer Galaxy. The remaining sources are at the tangent point distance or
farther. We identify a large, diffuse HII region complex that has an associated
HI and 13CO shell. The ~90 pc diameter of the G52L nebula in this complex may
be the largest Galactic HII region known, and yet it has escaped previous
detection.Comment: Accepted to ApJ Data can be found here: http://go.nrao.edu/hrd
The Green Bank Telescope H II Region Discovery Survey: IV. Helium and Carbon Recombination Lines
The Green Bank Telescope H II Region Discovery Survey (GBT HRDS) found
hundreds of previously unknown Galactic regions of massive star formation by
detecting hydrogen radio recombination line (RRL) emission from candidate H II
region targets. Since the HRDS nebulae lie at large distances from the Sun,
they are located in previously unprobed zones of the Galactic disk. Here we
derive the properties of helium and carbon RRL emission from HRDS nebulae. Our
target sample is the subset of the HRDS that has visible helium or carbon RRLs.
This criterion gives a total of 84 velocity components (14% of the HRDS) with
helium emission and 52 (9%) with carbon emission. For our highest quality
sources, the average ionic He-4+/H+ abundance ratio by number, , is 0.068
+/- 0.023 (1-sigma). This is the same ratio as that measured for the sample of
previously known Galactic H II regions. Nebulae without detected helium
emission give robust y+ upper limits. There are 5 RRL emission components with
y+ less than 0.04 and another 12 with upper limits below this value. These H II
regions must have either a very low He-4 abundance or contain a significant
amount of neutral helium. The HRDS has 20 nebulae with carbon RRL emission but
no helium emission at its sensitivity level. There is no correlation between
the carbon RRL parameters and the 8 microns mid-infrared morphology of these
nebulae.Comment: Accepted to ApJ. The survey website can be found here:
http://go.nrao.edu/hrd
Radio continuum observations of local star-forming galaxies using the Caltech Continuum Backend on the Green Bank Telescope
We observed radio continuum emission in 27 local (D < 70 Mpc) star-forming
galaxies with the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope between 26 GHz and 40 GHz
using the Caltech Continuum Backend. We obtained detections for 22 of these
galaxies at all four sub-bands and four more marginal detections by taking the
average flux across the entire bandwidth. This is the first detection (full or
marginal) at these frequencies for 22 of these galaxies. We fit spectral energy
distributions (SEDs) for all of the four-sub-band detections. For 14 of the
galaxies, SEDs were best fit by a combination of thermal free-free and
nonthermal synchrotron components. Eight galaxies with four-sub-band detections
had steep spectra that were only fit by a single nonthermal component. Using
these fits, we calculated supernova rates, total number of equivalent O stars,
and star formation rates within each ~23 arcsecond beam. For unresolved
galaxies, these physical properties characterize the galaxies' recent star
formation on a global scale. We confirm that the radio-far-infrared correlation
holds for the unresolved galaxies' total 33 GHz flux regardless of their
thermal fractions, though the scatter on this correlation is larger than that
at 1.4 GHz. In addition, we found that for the unresolved galaxies, there is an
inverse relationship between the ratio of 33 GHz flux to total far-infrared
flux and the steepness of the galaxy's spectral index between 1.4 GHz and 33
GHz. This relationship could be an indicator of the timescale of the observed
episode of star formation.Comment: 36 pages, 9 figures; accepted for publication in ApJ. First and
second author affiliation updated to reflect departmental name chang
Diffuse Ionized Gas in the Milky Way Disk
We analyze the diffuse ionized gas (DIG) in the first Galactic quadrant from
l=18deg to 40deg using radio recombination line (RRL) data from the Green Bank
Telescope. These data allow us to distinguish DIG emission from HII region
emission and thus study the diffuse gas essentially unaffected by confusion
from discrete sources. We find that the DIG has two dominant velocity
components, one centered around 100km/s associated with the luminous HII region
W43, and the other centered around 45km/s not associated with any large HII
region. Our analysis suggests that the two velocity components near W43 may be
caused by non-circular streaming motions originating near the end of the
Galactic bar. At lower Galactic longitudes, the two velocities may instead
arise from gas at two distinct distances from the Sun, with the most likely
distances being ~6kpc for the 100km/s component and ~12kpc for the 45km/s
component. We show that the intensity of diffuse Spitzer GLIMPSE 8.0um emission
caused by excitation of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is correlated with
both the locations of discrete HII regions and the intensity of the RRL
emission from the DIG. This implies that the soft ultra-violet photons
responsible for creating the infrared emission have a similar origin as the
harder ultra-violet photons required for the RRL emission. The 8.0um emission
increases with RRL intensity but flattens out for directions with the most
intense RRL emission, suggesting that PAHs are partially destroyed by the
energetic radiation field at these locations.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ (16 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables
HII Region Ionization of the Interstellar Medium: A Case Study of NGC 7538
Using data from the Green Bank Telescope, we analyze the radio continuum
(free-free) and radio recombination line (RRL) emission of the compact HII
region NGC 7538 (Sharpless 158). We detect extended radio continuum and
hydrogen RRL emission beyond the photodissociation region (PDR) toward the
north and east, but a sharp decrease in emission toward the south and west.
This indicates that a non-uniform PDR morphology is affecting the amount of
radiation "leaking" through the PDR. The strongest carbon RRL emission is found
in the western PDR that appears to be dense. We compute a leaking fraction % of the radio continuum emission measured in the plane of the sky
which represents a lower limit when accounting for the three-dimensional
geometry of the region. We detect an average
abundance ratio by number of inside the HII region and a
decrease in this ratio with increasing distance from the region beyond the PDR.
Using Herschel Space Observatory data, we show that small dust temperature
enhancements to the north and east of NGC 7538 coincide with extended radio
emission, but that the dust temperature enhancements are mostly contained
within a second PDR to the east. Unlike the giant HII region W43, the radiation
leaking from NGC 7538 seems to only affect the local ambient medium. This
suggests that giant HII regions may have a large effect in maintaining the
ionization of the interstellar medium.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ (15 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables
Diffuse Ionized Gas in the Milky Way Disk
We analyze the diffuse ionized gas (DIG) in the first Galactic quadrant from
l=18deg to 40deg using radio recombination line (RRL) data from the Green Bank
Telescope. These data allow us to distinguish DIG emission from HII region
emission and thus study the diffuse gas essentially unaffected by confusion
from discrete sources. We find that the DIG has two dominant velocity
components, one centered around 100km/s associated with the luminous HII region
W43, and the other centered around 45km/s not associated with any large HII
region. Our analysis suggests that the two velocity components near W43 may be
caused by non-circular streaming motions originating near the end of the
Galactic bar. At lower Galactic longitudes, the two velocities may instead
arise from gas at two distinct distances from the Sun, with the most likely
distances being ~6kpc for the 100km/s component and ~12kpc for the 45km/s
component. We show that the intensity of diffuse Spitzer GLIMPSE 8.0um emission
caused by excitation of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is correlated with
both the locations of discrete HII regions and the intensity of the RRL
emission from the DIG. This implies that the soft ultra-violet photons
responsible for creating the infrared emission have a similar origin as the
harder ultra-violet photons required for the RRL emission. The 8.0um emission
increases with RRL intensity but flattens out for directions with the most
intense RRL emission, suggesting that PAHs are partially destroyed by the
energetic radiation field at these locations.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ (16 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables
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