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arXiv · 2503.07954

Spatially-resolved Galactic HII regions observed by LAMOST medium-Resolution Spectroscopic Survey of Nebulae (LAMOST MRS-N)

Wei Zhang·Yunning Zhao·Lin Ma·Shiming Wen·Chaojian Wu·Juanjuan Ren·Jianjun Chen·Yuzhong Wu·Zhongrui Bai·Yonghui Hou·Yongheng Zhao·Hong Wu
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Abstract

We present spatially-resolved spectroscopic observations of 10 isolated Galactic HII regions using data from the LAMOST Medium-Resolution Spectroscopic Survey of Nebulae (LAMOST MRS-N). The high spatial resolution of the data allows us to investigate the 1D radial profiles of emission line fluxes (Ha, [S II] and [N II]), flux ratios ([N II]/Ha, [S II]/Ha and [S II]/[N II]), and radial velocities of these three emission lines. Among these regions, two are ionization-bounded, while the remaining eight are matter-bounded. The matter-bounded HII regions exhibit shallower slopes in their radial flux profiles compared to the ionization-bounded ones. In most cases, the [N II]/Ha and [S II]/Ha ratios increase with distance from the center of the HII regions, consistent with model predictions that low-ionization emissions dominate the outer zones of these regions. The two ionization-bounded HII regions have kinematic ages (t) of 0.2 and 0.3 Myr, while the matter-bounded regions span ages from 1 to 12 Myr. For the matter-bounded HII regions, the optical emission flux decreases continuously beyond the photodissociation region (PDR), extending to approximately 1-4 times the radius of the PDR (r_PDR). The escape fraction f_esc of ionizing photons, derived from 1D Ha radial flux profiles, is ~ 0% for ionization-bounded HII regions, while it ranges from 50% to 90% for the matter-bounded HII regions. The correlation between f_esc and t suggests that evolved HII regions (with t > 1 Myr) contribute more significantly to ionizing the surrounding diffuse ionized gas compared to younger, newly formed HII regions.

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Wei Zhang, Yunning Zhao, Lin Ma, Shiming Wen, Chaojian Wu, Juanjuan Ren, Jianjun Chen, Yuzhong Wu, Zhongrui Bai, Yonghui Hou, Yongheng Zhao, Hong Wu. 2025-03-11. Spatially-resolved Galactic HII regions observed by LAMOST medium-Resolution Spectroscopic Survey of Nebulae (LAMOST MRS-N). https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881%2Fadbf8f

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