Ionized disk/halo gas - Insight from optical emission lines and pulsar dispersion measures
R. J. Reynolds;
IAUS, 1991, 144, 67
ABSTRACT:Warm diffuse H(+) is a significant component of the interstellar medium within the Galactic disk and lower halo.
The origin of this ionized gas
is not yet established; however, of the known sources of ionization only O
stars and perhaps supernovae produce enough power to balance the 'cooling'
rate of the gas.
If O stars are the source of the ionization, then the
interstellar H I, including the extended 'Lockman layer', must have a morphology
that allows about 14 percent of the Lyman continuum photons emitted by the
stars to travel hundreds of parsecs within the Galactic disk and up into the
lower halo.
KEYWORDS: emission spectra, galactic halos, hydrogen ions, line spectra, pulsars, interstellar gas, spectrum analysis
CODE: reynolds91