R. J. Reynolds

The Wisconsin Hα Mapper Northern Sky Survey

The Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper (WHAM) has completed a one-degree resolution, velocity-resolved northern sky survey of H-alpha emission from our Galaxy. The unprecedented sensitivity of the instrument and accurate spectral subtraction of atmospheric features allow us to detect Galactic features as faint as 0.1 Rayleighs (EM ~ 0.25 cm^{-6} pc). This survey allows a direct comparison of the ionized and neutral components of the ISM on a global scale for the first time. All-sky maps of H-alpha emission in select velocity bands highlight the rich kinematic structure of the Galaxys ionized gas. The full set of data from the WHAM survey is now available at this http URL (abridged)The Wisconsin Hα Mapper (WHAM) has surveyed the distribution and kinematics of ionized gas in the Galaxy above declination -30°. The WHAM Northern Sky Survey (WHAM-NSS) has an angular resolution of 1° and provides the first absolutely calibrated, kinematically resolved map of the Hα emission from the warm ionized medium (WIM) within ~±100 km s-1 of the local standard of rest. Leveraging WHAMs 12 km s-1 spectral resolution, we have modeled and removed atmospheric emission and zodiacal absorption features from each of the 37,565 spectra. The resulting Hα profiles reveal ionized gas detected in nearly every direction on the sky with a sensitivity of 0.15 R (3 σ). Complex distributions of ionized gas are revealed in the nearby spiral arms up to 1-2 kpc away from the Galactic plane. Toward the inner Galaxy, the WHAM-NSS provides information about the WIM out to the tangent point down to a few degrees from the plane. Ionized gas is also detected toward many intermediate velocity clouds at high latitudes. Several new H II regions are revealed around early B stars and evolved stellar cores (sdB/O). This work presents the details of the instrument, the survey, and the data reduction techniques. The WHAM-NSS is also presented and analyzed for its gross properties. Finally, some general conclusions are presented about the nature of the WIM as revealed by the WHAM-NSS.

Spatial heterodyne spectroscopy for the exploration of diffuse interstellar emission lines at far-ultraviolet wavelengths

Spatial heterodyne spectroscopy (SHS) is a new instrumental technique for interference spectroscopy which promises to extend into the FUV (1200-2000 A) spectral region the large throughput advantage at high spectral resolution usually associated with Fabry-Perot and Michelson interferometers. In addition, SHS systems are compact in size, can be field-widened to increase their throughput even further, have no moving parts, and can be built in all-reflection configurations. SHS appears to be well suited for high resolution, space-based spectroscopy of faint interstellar emission lines in the ultraviolet. This has significant implications for the study of the dynamics and distribution of hot gas within the Galactic disk and halo. For example, a field-widened SHS incorporating 5 x 5 cm gratings could obtain a radial velocity resolved (20 km/s), 3 deg angular resolution map of the high-latitude interstellar C IV 1550 emission in less than 1 year.

Accretion of low-metallicity gas by the Milky Way

Models of the chemical evolution of the Milky Way suggest that the observed abundances of elements heavier than helium (‘metals’) require a continuous infall of gas with metallicity (metal abundance) about 0.1 times the solar value. An infall rate integrated over the entire disk of the Milky Way of ∼1 solar mass per year can solve the ‘G-dwarf problem’—the observational fact that the metallicities of most long-lived stars near the Sun lie in a relatively narrow range. This infall dilutes the enrichment arising from the production of heavy elements in stars, and thereby prevents the metallicity of the interstellar medium from increasing steadily with time. However, in other spiral galaxies, the low-metallicity gas needed to provide this infall has been observed only in associated dwarf galaxies and in the extreme outer disk of the Milky Way. In the distant Universe, low-metallicity hydrogen clouds (known as ‘damped Lyα absorbers’) are sometimes seen near galaxies. Here we report a metallicity of 0.09 times solar for a massive cloud that is falling into the disk of the Milky Way. The mass flow associated with this cloud represents an infall per unit area of about the theoretically expected rate, and ∼0.1–0.2 times the amount required for the whole Galaxy.

The warm ionized medium in spiral galaxies

This article reviews observations and models of the diffuse ionized gas that permeates the disk and halo of our Galaxy and others. It was inspired by a series of invited talks presented during an afternoon scientific session of the 65th birthday celebration for Professor Carl Heiles held at Arecibo Observatory in August 2004. This review is in recognition of Carls long-standing interest in and advocacy for studies of the ionized as well as the neutral components of the interstellar medium.

Evidence for an Additional Heat Source in the Warm Ionized Medium of Galaxies

Spatial variations of the [S ii]/Halpha and [N ii]/Halpha line intensity ratios observed in the gaseous halo of the Milky Way and other galaxies are inconsistent with pure photoionization models. They appear to require a supplemental heating mechanism that increases the electron temperature at low densities, ne. This would imply that in addition to photoionization, which has a heating rate per unit volume proportional to n2e, there is another source of heat with a rate per unit volume proportional to a lower power of ne. One possible mechanism is the dissipation of interstellar plasma turbulence, which, according to Minter & Spangler, heats the ionized interstellar medium in the Milky Way at a rate of approximately 1x10-25ne ergs cm-3 s-1. If such a source were present, it would dominate over photoionization heating in regions where ne less, similar0.1 cm-3, producing the observed increases in the [S ii]/Halpha and [N ii]/Halpha intensity ratios at large distances from the galactic midplane as well as accounting for the constancy of [S ii]/[N ii], which is not explained by pure photoionization. Other supplemental heating sources, such as magnetic reconnection, cosmic rays, or photoelectric emission from small grains, could also account for these observations, provided they supply approximately 10-5 ergs s-1 per square centimeter of the Galactic disk to the warm ionized medium.

A Multiwavelength Optical Emission Line Survey of Warm Ionized Gas in the Galaxy

We report on observations of several optical emission lines toward a variety of newly revealed faint, large-scale H?-emitting regions in the Galaxy. The lines include [N II] ?6583, [N II] ?5755, [S II] ?6716, [O III] ?5007, and He I ?5876 obtained with the Wisconsin H? Mapper (WHAM) toward sight lines that probe superbubbles, high-latitude filamentary features, and the more diffuse warm ionized medium (WIM). Our observations include maps covering thousands of square degrees toward the well-known Orion-Eridanus bubble, a recently discovered 60? ? 20? bipolar superbubble centered in Perseus, plus several classical H II regions surrounding OB stars and hot evolved stellar cores. We use the emission-line data to explore the temperature and ionization conditions within the emitting gas and their variations between the different emission regions. We find that in the diffuse WIM and in the faint high-latitude filamentary structures the line ratios of [N II]/H? and [S II]/H? are generally high, while [O III]/H? and He I/H? are generally low compared to the bright classical H II regions. This suggests that the gas producing this faint widespread emission is warmer, in a lower ionization state, and ionized by a softer spectrum than gas in classical H II regions surrounding O stars, the presumed ionization source for the WIM. In addition, we find differences in physical conditions between the large bubble structures and the more diffuse WIM, suggesting that the ionization of superbubble walls by radiation from interior O associations does not account entirely for the range of conditions found within the WIM, particularly the highest values of [N II]/H? and [S II]/H?.

THE TURBULENT WARM IONIZED MEDIUM: EMISSION MEASURE DISTRIBUTION AND MHD SIMULATIONS

We present an analysis of the distribution of Hemission measures for the warm ionized medium (WIM) of the GalaxyusingdatafromtheWisconsinHMapper(WHAM)NorthernSkySurvey.OursampleisrestrictedtoGalactic latitudes jbj > 10 � .Weremovedsightlinesintersecting19high-latitudeclassicalHiiregions,leavingonlysightlines that sample the diffuse WIM. The distribution of EM sin jbjfor the diffuse WIM sample is poorly characterized by a single normal distribution, but is extraordinarily wellfit by a lognormal distribution, with hlog EM sin jbj(pc cm � 6 ) � 1 i¼ 0:146 � 0:001 and standard deviationlog EM sin jbj ¼ 0:190 � 0:001. The value of log EM sin jbj hi drops from 0:260 � 0:002 at Galactic latitude 10 < jbj < 30 to 0:038 � 0:002 at Galactic latitude 60 < jbj < 90. The distribution maywidenslightly atlowGalacticlatitude.WecomparetheobservedEMdistributionfunctiontothepredictionsof three- dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations of isothermal turbulence within a nonstratified interstellar medium. We find that the distribution of EM sin jbj is well described by models of mildly supersonic turbulence with a sonic Mach number of � 1.4Y2.4. The distribution is weakly sensitive to the magnetic field strength. The model also successfully predictsthedistributionof dispersionmeasuresof pulsarsandHlineprofiles.InthebestfittingmodeltheturbulentWIM occupies a vertical path length of 400Y500 pc within the 1.0Y1.8 kpc scale height of the layer. The WIM gas has a lognormal distribution of densities with a most probable electron density npk � 0:03 cm � 3 . We also discuss the impli- cations of these results for interpreting the filling factor, the power requirement, and the magnetic field of the WIM. Subject headingg ISM: structure — MHD — turbulence

A NEW SPIN ON GALACTIC DUST

We present a new puzzle involving Galactic microwave emission and attempt to resolve it. On one hand, a cross-correlation analysis of the Wisconsin Hα Mapper map with the Tenerife 10 and 15 GHz maps shows that the well-known DIRBE correlated microwave emission cannot be dominated by free-free emission. On the other hand, recent high-resolution observations in the 8-10 GHz range with the Green Bank 140 foot telescope by Finkbeiner et al. failed to find the corresponding 8 σ signal that would be expected in the simplest spinning-dust models. So what physical mechanism is causing this ubiquitous dust-correlated emission? We argue for a model predicting that spinning dust is the culprit after all, but that the corresponding small grains are well correlated with the larger grains seen at 100 μm only on large angular scales. In support of this grain-segregation model, we find that the best spinning-dust template involves higher frequency maps in the range 12-60 μm, in which emission from transiently heated small grains is important. Upcoming cosmic microwave background experiments such as ground-based interferometers, the Microwave Anisotropy Probe, and the Planck low-frequency interferometer with high resolution at low frequencies should allow a definitive test of this model.

Fabry–Perot CCD annular-summing spectroscopy: study and implementation for aeronomy applications

The technique of Fabry-Perot CCD annular-summing spectroscopy, with particular emphasis on applications in aeronomy, is discussed. Parameter choices for optimizing performance by the use of a standard format CCD array are detailed. Spectral calibration methods, techniques for determining the ring pattern center, and effects imposed by limited radial resolution caused by superpixel size, variable by on-chip binning, are demonstrated. The technique is carefully evaluated experimentally relative to the conventional scanning Fabry-Perot that uses a photomultiplier detector. We evaluate three extreme examples typical of aeronomical spectroscopy using calculated signal-to-noise ratios. Predicted sensitivity gains of 10-30 are typical. Of the cases considered, the largest savings in integration time are estimated for the day sky thermospheric O(1)D case, in which the bright sky background dominates the CCD read noise. For profile measurements of faint night sky emission lines, such as exospheric hydrogen Balmer-α, long integration times are required to achieve useful signal-to-noise ratios. In such cases, CCD read noise is largely overcome. Predictions of a factor of 10-15 savings in integration time for night sky Balmer-α observations are supported by field tests. Bright, isolated night sky lines such as thermospheric O(1)D require shorter integration times, and more modest gains dependent on signal level are predicted. For such cases it appears from estimate results that the Fabry-Perot CCD annular-summing technique with a conventional rectangular format may be outperformed by a factor of 2-5 by special CCD formats or by unusual optical coupling configurations that reduce the importance of read noise, based on the ideal transmission for any additional optics used in these configurations.

Emission-Line Ratios and Variations in Temperature and Ionization State in the Diffuse Ionized Gas of Five Edge-on Galaxies

We present spectroscopic observations of ionized gas in the disk-halo regions of five edge-on galaxies, covering a wavelength range from [O II] 3727 A to [S II] 6716.4 A. The inclusion of the [O II] emission provides additional constraints on the properties of the diffuse ionized gas (DIG), in particular, the origin of the observed spatial variations in the line intensity ratios. We have derived electron temperatures, ionization fractions, and abundances along the slit. Our data include slit positions both parallel and perpendicular to the galactic disks. This allowed us to examine variations in the line intensity ratios with height above the midplane, as well as with distance from the galactic centers. The observed increase in the [O II]/Hα line ratio toward the halo seems to require an increase in electron temperature caused by a nonionizing heating mechanism. We conclude that gradients in the electron temperature can play a significant role in the observed variations in the optical emission-line ratios from extraplanar DIG.