Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Paladini, R.
• Noriega-Crespo, A.
• Carey, S. J.
• DeZotti, G.

Titel

RE-ANALYSIS OF THE RADIO LUMINOSITY FUNCTION OF GALACTIC H II REGIONS

Ist Teil von

• The Astrophysical journal, 2009-09, Vol.702 (2)

Ort / Verlag

United States

Erscheinungsjahr

2009

Quelle

EZB Electronic Journals Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• We have re-analyzed continuum and recombination lines radio data available in the literature in order to derive the luminosity function (LF) of Galactic H II regions. The study is performed by considering the first and fourth Galactic quadrants independently. We estimate the completeness level of the sample in the fourth quadrant at 5 Jy, and the one in the first quadrant at 2 Jy. We show that the two samples (fourth or first quadrant) include, as well as giant and supergiant H II regions, a significant number of subgiant sources. The LF is obtained, in each Galactic quadrant, with a generalized Schmidt's estimator using an effective volume derived from the observed spatial distribution of the considered H II regions. The re-analysis also takes advantage of recently published ancillary absorption data allowing to solve the distance ambiguity for several objects. A single power-law fit to the LFs retrieves a slope equal to -2.23 {+-} 0.07 (fourth quadrant) and to -1.85 {+-} 0.11 (first quadrant). We also find marginal evidence of a luminosity break at L{sub knee} = 10{sup 23.45} erg s{sup -1} Hz{sup -1} for the LF in the fourth quadrant. We convert radio luminosities into equivalent H{alpha} and Lyman continuum luminosities to facilitate comparisons with extragalactic studies. We obtain an average total H II regions Lyman continuum luminosity of 0.89 {+-} 0.23 x 10{sup 53} s{sup -1}, corresponding to 30% of the total ionizing luminosity of the Galaxy.