The temperature of the neutral Interstellar Medium in the Galaxy

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Hauptverfasser: Patra, Narendra Nath, Roy, Nirupam
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
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author Patra, Narendra Nath
Roy, Nirupam
author_facet Patra, Narendra Nath
Roy, Nirupam
contents Atomic Hydrogen-21 cm transition (HI) is an excellent tracer to study and understand the properties of the atomic gas in the Galaxy. Using the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT), we observed 12 quasar sightlines to detect galactic HI in absorption. We achieve an optical depth RMS of $\sim 1-2 \times 10^{-3}$, essential to detect the Warm Neutral Medium (WNM). We detect HI absorption in all our sightlines except along 1006+349, for which we set a strict upper limit on the spin temperature as $\langle T_s \rangle > 570$ K. We find around 50\% of our sightlines have $\langle T_s \rangle > 500$ K, indicating a WNM dominance. Further, we calculate an upper limit of the CNM fraction along our sightlines and find a median CNM fraction of $\sim 0.12$. With our observations, we reconfirm the existence of a threshold column density of $\sim 2 \times 10^{20} \ cm^{-2}$ to form CNM in the ISM. Using a two-temperature model of the HI disk, we explore the distribution of spin temperature in the Galactic ISM. We find that a simple fixed axisymmetric two-temperature model could not produce either the observed column density or the integral optical depth. This indicates the existence of a more complex distribution of spin temperatures in the Galaxy.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2403_11653
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The temperature of the neutral Interstellar Medium in the Galaxy
Patra, Narendra Nath
Roy, Nirupam
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Atomic Hydrogen-21 cm transition (HI) is an excellent tracer to study and understand the properties of the atomic gas in the Galaxy. Using the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT), we observed 12 quasar sightlines to detect galactic HI in absorption. We achieve an optical depth RMS of $\sim 1-2 \times 10^{-3}$, essential to detect the Warm Neutral Medium (WNM). We detect HI absorption in all our sightlines except along 1006+349, for which we set a strict upper limit on the spin temperature as $\langle T_s \rangle > 570$ K. We find around 50\% of our sightlines have $\langle T_s \rangle > 500$ K, indicating a WNM dominance. Further, we calculate an upper limit of the CNM fraction along our sightlines and find a median CNM fraction of $\sim 0.12$. With our observations, we reconfirm the existence of a threshold column density of $\sim 2 \times 10^{20} \ cm^{-2}$ to form CNM in the ISM. Using a two-temperature model of the HI disk, we explore the distribution of spin temperature in the Galactic ISM. We find that a simple fixed axisymmetric two-temperature model could not produce either the observed column density or the integral optical depth. This indicates the existence of a more complex distribution of spin temperatures in the Galaxy.
title The temperature of the neutral Interstellar Medium in the Galaxy
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.11653