No Arabic abstract
We present numerical radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of cometary HII regions for a number of champagne flow and bowshock models. For the champagne flow models we study smooth density distributions with both steep and shallow gradients. We also consider cases where the ionizing star has a strong stellar wind, and cases in which the star additionally has a proper motion within the ambient density gradient. We present simulated emission-measure maps and long-slit spectra of our results. Our numerical models are not tailored to any particular object but comparison with observations from the literature shows that, in particular, the models combining density gradients and stellar winds are able to account for both the morphology and radial velocity behavior of several observed cometary HII regions, such as the well-studied object G29.96-0.02.
We report on the detection of optically thick free-free radio sources in the galaxies M33, NGC 253, and NGC 6946 using data in the literature. We interpret these sources as being young, embedded star birth regions, which are likely to be clusters of ultracompact HII regions. All 35 of the sources presented in this article have positive radio spectral indices alpha>0 suggesting an optically thick thermal bremsstrahlung emission arising in the HII region surrounding hot stars. Energy requirements indicate a range of a several to >500 O7V star equivalents powering each HII region. Assuming a Salpeter IMF, this corresponds to integrated stellar masses of 0.1--60,000 Msun. For roughly half of the sources in our sample, there is no obvious optical counterpart, giving further support for their deeply embedded nature. Their luminosities and radio spectral energy distributions are consistent with HII regions having electron densities from 1500 cm^-3 to 15000 cm^-3 and radii of 1 - 7 pc. We suggest that the less luminous of these sources are extragalactic ultracompact HII region complexes, those of intermediate luminosity are similar to W49 in the Galaxy, while the brightest will be counterparts to 30 Doradus. These objects constitute the lower mass range of extragalactic ``ultradense HII regions which we argue are the youngest stages of massive star cluster formation yet observed. This sample is beginning to fill in the continuum of objects between small associations of ultracompact HII regions and the massive extragalactic clusters that may evolve into globular clusters.
It has been proposed recently that the small size and long lifetime of ultra-compact HII regions (UCHIIs) could be due to pressure confinement if the thermal pressure of the ambient gas is higher than previous estimates. We point out that confinement by thermal pressure alone implies emission measures in excess of observed values. We show that turbulent pressure, inferred from observed non-thermal velocities, is sufficient to confine UC HIIs and explain their longevity. We predict an anti-correlation between the size of UCHIIs and the velocity dispersion of the ambient neutral gas, and show that it is consistent with existing observations.
We simulate evolution of cometary H II regions based on several champagne flow models and bow shock models, and calculate the profiles of the [Ne II] fine-structure line at $12.81mu m$, the $H30alpha$ recombination line and the [Ne III] fine-structure line at $15.55mu m$ for these models at different inclinations of $0^o, 30^o textrm{and} 60^o$. We find that the profiles in the bow shock models are generally different from those in the champagne flow models, but the profiles in the bow shock with lower stellar velocity ($leq5km s^{-1}$) are similar to those in the champagne flow models. In champagne flow models, both the velocity of peak flux and the flux weighted central velocities of all three lines are pointing outward from molecular clouds. In bow shock models, the directions of these velocities rely on the speed of stars. They have the similar motion in high stellar speed case but opposite directions in low stellar speed case. We notice that the line profiles from the slit along the symmetrical axis of the projected 2D image of these models are useful for distinguishing bow shock models and champagne flow models. It is also confirmed by the calculation that the flux weighted central velocity and the line luminosity of the [Ne III] line can be estimated from the [Ne II] line and the $H30alpha$ line.
The four HII regions in the Sgr A East complex: A, B, C, and D, represent evidence of recent massive star formation in the central ten parsecs. Using Paschen-alpha images taken with HST and 8.4 GHz VLA data, we construct an extinction map of A-D, and briefly discuss their morphology and location.