Semester
Spring
Date of Graduation
2014
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MS
College
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Physics and Astronomy
Committee Chair
Loren Anderson
Committee Co-Chair
Duncan Lorimer
Committee Member
DJ Pisano.
Abstract
HII regions are clouds of ionized hydrogen gas surrounding B0- and O-type stars. The ionized hydrogen in these regions emits both radio recombination line (RRL) and also thermal radio continuum. Diffuse ionized hydrogen, known as the 'Warm Ionized Medium' (WIM) also exists in the Galaxy. The WIM also emits RRLs and thermal radio continuum. Previous observation of compact \hii regions found two RRL components for many sources, one from the \hii region and the others from the WIM. By observing off-target positions sampling only the diffuse emission, we discerned the correct source velocities for 93 out of 116 HII regions that have multiple RRL components. We assigned kinematic distances to these sources by analyzing hydrogen absorption spectra taken toward the sources. We found that 64% of our sources lie beyond the tangent point distance.
Recommended Citation
Hough, Logan A., "Untangling compact and diffuse ionized emission toward galactic hii regions" (2014). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 226.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/226