arXiv subjects

Claire E. Murray

Publications and source records attributed to Claire E. Murray.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2025

A Catalog of Stellar and Dust Properties for 500,000 Stars in the Southwest Bar of the Small Magellanic Cloud

We present a catalog of individual stellar and dust extinction properties along close to 500,000 sight lines in the southwest bar of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The catalog is based on multiband Hubble Space Telescope photometric data spanning near-ultraviolet to near-infrared wavelengths from the Small Magellanic Cloud Investigation of Dust and Gas Evolution survey (SMIDGE) covering a 100 x 200 pc area. We use the probabilistic technique of the Bayesian Extinction And Stellar Tool (BEAST) to model the spectral energy distributions of individual stars in SMIDGE and include the effects of observational uncertainties in the data. We compare BEAST-derived dust extinction properties with tracers of the interstellar medium, such as the emission from the 12CO (2-1) transition (I(CO)), the dust mass surface density (Σdust) from far-IR emission, the H I column density (N(HI)) from the 21cm transition, and the mass fraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs; qPAH, derived from IR emission). We find that the dust extinction (A(V )) in the SMIDGE field is strongly correlated with Σdust and I(CO), and less so with N(HI) and qPAH, and suggest potential explanations. Our extinction measurements are also sensitive to the presence of the 2175 Å bump in the extinction curve toward UV bright stars. While most do not show evidence for the bump, we identify ~200 lines of sight that are 2175 Å bump candidates. Furthermore, we find distinct structures in the dust extinction-distance distributions that provide insights into the 3D geometry of the SMC.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

Scylla I: A pure-parallel, multi-wavelength imaging survey of the ULLYSES fields in the LMC and SMC

Scylla is a deep Hubble Space Telescope survey of the stellar populations, interstellar medium and star formation in the LMC and SMC. As a pure-parallel complement to the Ultraviolet Legacy Library of Young Stars as Essential Standards (ULLYSES) survey, Scylla obtained 342 orbits of ultraviolet (UV) through near-infrared (IR) imaging of the LMC and SMC with Wide Field Camera 3. In this paper, we describe the science objectives, observing strategy, data reduction procedure, and initial results from our photometric analysis of 96 observed fields. Although our observations were constrained by ULYSSES primary exposures, we imaged all fields in at least two filters (F475W and F814W), and 64% of fields in at least three and as many as seven WFC3 filters spanning the UV to IR. Overall, we reach average 50% completeness of $m_{\rm F225W}=26.0$, $m_{\rm F275W}=26.2$, $m_{\rm F336W}=26.9$, $m_{\rm F475W}=27.8$, $m_{\rm F814W}=25.5$, $m_{\rm F110W}=24.7$, and $m_{\rm F160W}=24.0$ Vega magnitudes in our photometric catalogs, which is faintward of the ancient main sequence turnoff in all filters. The primary science goals of Scylla include characterizing the structure and properties of dust in the MCs, as well as their spatially-resolved star formation and chemical enrichment histories. Our images and photometric catalogs, which represent the widest-area coverage of MCs with HST photometry to date, are available as a high-level science product at the Barbara A. Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

Scylla II. The Spatially Resolved Star Formation History of the Large Magellanic Cloud Reveals an Inverted Radial Age Gradient

The proximity of the Magellanic Clouds provides the opportunity to study interacting dwarf galaxies near a massive host, and spatial trends in their stellar population properties in particular, with a unique level of detail. The Scylla pure parallel program has obtained deep (80% complete to >1 mag below the ancient main sequence turnoff), homogeneous two-filter Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging sampling the inner star-forming disk of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), the perfect complement to shallower, contiguous ground-based surveys. We harness this imaging together with extant archival data and fit lifetime star formation histories (SFHs) to resolved color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of 111 individual fields, using three different stellar evolutionary libraries. We validate per-field recovered distances and extinctions as well as the combined global LMC age-metallicity relation and SFH against independent estimates. We find that the present-day radial age gradient reverses from an inside-out gradient in the inner disk to an outside-in gradient beyond $\sim$2 disk scalelengths, supported by ground-based measurements. The gradients become relatively flatter at earlier lookback times, while the location of the inversion remains constant over an order of magnitude in lookback time, from $\sim$1$-$10 Gyr. This suggests at least one mechanism that predates the recent intense LMC-SMC interaction. We compare observed radial age trends to other late-type galaxies at fixed stellar mass and discuss similarities and differences in the context of potential drivers, implying strong radial migration in the LMC.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

Scylla III. The Outside-In Radial Age Gradient in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the Star Formation Histories of the Main Body, Wing and Outer Regions

The proximity of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC) provides the opportunity to study the impact of dwarf-dwarf interactions on their mass assembly with a unique level of detail. To this end, we analyze two-filter broadband imaging of 83 Hubble Space Telescope (HST) pointings covering 0.203 deg$^2$ towards the SMC, extending out to $\sim$3.5 kpc in projection from its optical center. Lifetime star formation histories (SFHs) fit to each pointing independently reveal an outside-in age gradient such that fields in the SMC outskirts are older on average. We measure radial gradients of the lookback time to form 90%, 75% and 50% of the cumulative stellar mass for the first time, finding $δ$($τ_{90}$, $τ_{75}$, $τ_{50}$)/$δ$R = (0.61$^{+0.08}_{-0.07}$, 0.65$^{+0.09}_{-0.08}$, 0.82$^{+0.12}_{-0.16}$) Gyr/kpc assuming PARSEC evolutionary models and a commonly used elliptical geometry of the SMC, although our results are robust to these assumptions. The wing of the SMC deviates from this trend, forming 25\% of its cumulative mass over the most recent 3 Gyr due to a best-fit star formation rate that remains approximately constant. Our results are consistent with chemodynamical evidence of a tidally stripped SMC component in the foreground, and imply contributions to the observed SFH from multiple previous LMC-SMC interactions. We also compare our SMC SFH with results from a companion study of the LMC, finding that while the two galaxies present different internal, spatially resolved SFH trends, both the LMC and SMC have similar near-constant lifetime SFHs when viewed globally.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

Local HI Absorption towards the Magellanic Cloud foreground using ASKAP

We present the largest Galactic neutral hydrogen HI absorption survey to date, utilizing the Australian SKA Pathfinder Telescope at an unprecedented spatial resolution of 30''. This survey, GASKAP-HI, unbiasedly targets 2,714 continuum background sources over 250 square degrees in the direction of the Magellanic Clouds, a significant increase compared to a total of 373 sources observed by previous Galactic absorption surveys across the entire Milky Way. We aim to investigate the physical properties of cold (CNM) and warm (WNM) neutral atomic gas in the Milky Way foreground, characterized by two prominent filaments at high Galactic latitudes (between $-45^{\circ}$ and $-25^{\circ}$). We detected strong HI absorption along 462 lines of sight above the 3$σ$ threshold, achieving an absorption detection rate of 17%. GASKAP-HI's unprecedented angular resolution allows for simultaneous absorption and emission measurements to sample almost the same gas clouds along a line of sight. A joint Gaussian decomposition is then applied to absorption-emission spectra to provide direct estimates of HI optical depths, temperatures, and column densities for the CNM and WNM components. The thermal properties of CNM components are consistent with those previously observed along a wide range of Solar neighborhood environments, indicating that cold HI properties are widely prevalent throughout the local interstellar medium. Across our region of interest, CNM accounts for ~30% of the total HI gas, with the CNM fraction increasing with column density toward the two filaments. Our analysis reveals an anti-correlation between CNM temperature and its optical depth, which implies that CNM with lower optical depth leads to a higher temperature.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

Expanded Sample of Small Magellanic Cloud Ultraviolet Dust Extinction Curves: Correlations between the 2175 A bump, q_pah, UV extinction shape, and N(HI)/A(V)

The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) shows a large variation in ultraviolet (UV) dust extinction curves, ranging from Milky Way-like (MW) to significantly steeper curves with no detectable 2175 A bump. This result is based on a sample of only nine sightlines. From HST/STIS and IUE spectra of OB stars, we have measured UV extinction curves along 32 SMC sightlines where eight of these curves were published previously. We find 16 sightlines with steep extinction with no detectable 2175 A bump, four sightlines with MW-like extinction with a detectable 2175 A bump, two sightlines with fairly flat UV extinction and weak/absent 2175 A bumps, and 10 sightlines with unreliable curves due to low SMC dust columns. Our expanded sample shows that the sightlines with and without the 2175 A bump are located throughout the SMC and not limited to specific regions. The average extinction curve of the 16 bumpless sightlines is very similar to the previous average based on four sightlines. We find no correlation between dust column and the strength of the 2175 A bump. We test the hypothesis that the 2175 A bump is due to the same dust grains that are responsible for the mid-infrared carbonaceous (PAH) emission features and find they are correlated, confirming recent work in the MW. Overall, the slope of the UV extinction increases as the amplitudes of the 2175 A bump and far-UV curvature decrease. Finally, the UV slope is correlated with $N(HI)/A(V)$ and the 2175 A bump and nonlinear far-UV rise amplitudes are anti-correlated with $N(HI)/A(V)$.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

Characterizing the 3D Structure of Molecular Cloud Envelopes in the "Cloud Factory" Simulations

We leverage recent numerical simulations of highly resolved star-forming regions in a Milky Way-like Galaxy to explore the nature of extended gaseous envelopes around molecular clouds. We extract a sample of two dozen star-forming clouds from the feedback-dominated suite of the "Cloud Factory'' simulations. With the goal of exploring the 3D thermal and chemical structure of the gas, we measure and fit the clouds' radial profiles in multiple tracers, including $n_{H_I}$, $n_{H_2}$, $n_{H_{tot}}$, $n_{CO}$, and gas temperature. We find that while solar neighborhood clouds recently detected via 3D dust mapping have radially symmetric, low-density envelopes that extend $\sim$ 10-15 pc, the simulated cloud envelopes are primarily radially asymmetric with low-density envelopes that extend only $\sim$ 2-3 pc. One potential explanation for the absence of extended envelopes in the simulated clouds may be the lack of magnetic fields, while a stronger local feedback prescription compared to solar neighborhood conditions may drive the radially asymmetric cloud morphologies. We make the pipeline to extract and characterize the radial profile of clouds publicly available, which can be used in complementary and future simulations to shed additional light on the key physics shaping the formation and evolution of star-forming structures in the Milky Way.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

A Galactic Eclipse: The Small Magellanic Cloud is Forming Stars in Two, Superimposed Systems

The structure and dynamics of the star-forming disk of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) have long confounded us. The SMC is widely used as a prototype for galactic physics at low metallicity, and yet we fundamentally lack an understanding of the structure of its interstellar medium (ISM). In this work, we present a new model for the SMC by comparing the kinematics of young, massive stars with the structure of the ISM traced by high-resolution observations of neutral atomic hydrogen (HI) from the Galactic Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder survey (GASKAP-HI). Specifically, we identify thousands of young, massive stars with precise radial velocity constraints from the Gaia and APOGEE surveys and match these stars to the ISM structures in which they likely formed. By comparing the average dust extinction towards these stars, we find evidence that the SMC is composed of two structures with distinct stellar and gaseous chemical compositions. We construct a simple model that successfully reproduces the observations and shows that the ISM of the SMC is arranged into two, superimposed, star-forming systems with similar gas mass separated by ~5 kpc along the line of sight.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

GNOMES II: Analysis of the Galactic diffuse molecular ISM in all four ground state hydroxyl transitions using Amoeba

We present observations of the four 2 Pi 3/2 J = 3/2 ground-rotational state transitions of the hydroxyl molecule (OH) along 107 lines of sight both in and out of the Galactic plane: 92 sets of observations from the Arecibo telescope and 15 sets of observations from the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA). Our Arecibo observations included off-source pointings, allowing us to measure excitation temperature (Tex) and optical depth, while our ATCA observations give optical depth only. We perform Gaussian decomposition using the Automated Molecular Excitation Bayesian line-fitting Algorithm 'AMOEBA' (Petzler, Dawson, and Wardle 2021) fitting all four transitions simultaneously with shared centroid velocity and width. We identify 109 features across 38 sightlines (including 58 detections along 27 sightlines with excitation temperature measurements). While the main lines at 1665 and 1667 MHz tend to have similar excitation temperatures (median Tex(main) difference = 0.6 K, 84% show Tex(main) difference < 2 K), large differences in the 1612 and 1720 MHz satellite line excitation temperatures show that the gas is generally not in LTE. For a selection of sightlines we compare our OH features to associated (on-sky and in velocity) HI cold gas components (CNM) identified by Nguyen et al. (2019) and find no strong correlations. We speculate that this may indicate an effective decoupling of the molecular gas from the CNM once it accumulates.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

The role of neutral hydrogen in setting the abundances of molecular species in the Milky Way's diffuse interstellar medium. II. Comparison between observations and theoretical models

We compare observations of HI from the Very Large Array (VLA) and the Arecibo Observatory and observations of HCO$^+$ from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Northern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) in the diffuse ($A_V\lesssim1$) interstellar medium (ISM) to predictions from a photodissociation region (PDR) chemical model and multi-phase ISM simulations. Using a coarse grid of PDR models, we estimate the density, FUV radiation field, and cosmic ray ionization rate (CRIR) for each structure identified in HCO$^+$ and HI absorption. These structures fall into two categories. Structures with $T_s<40~\mathrm{K}$, mostly with $N(\mathrm{HCO^+})\lesssim10^{12}~\mathrm{cm^{-2}}$, are consistent with modest density, FUV radiation field, and CRIR models, typical of the diffuse molecular ISM. Structures with spin temperature $T_s>40~\mathrm{K}$, mostly with $N(\mathrm{HCO^+})\gtrsim10^{12}~\mathrm{cm^{-2}}$, are consistent with high density, FUV radiation field, and CRIR models, characteristic of environments close to massive star formation. The latter are also found in directions with a significant fraction of thermally unstable HI. In at least one case, we rule out the PDR model parameters, suggesting that alternative mechanisms (e.g., non-equilibrium processes like turbulent dissipation and/or shocks) are required to explain the observed HCO$^+$ in this direction. Similarly, while our observations and simulations of the turbulent, multi-phase ISM agree that HCO$^+$ formation occurs along sightlines with $N(\mathrm{HI})\gtrsim10^{21}~\mathrm{cm^{-2}}$, the simulated data fail to explain HCO$^+$ column densities $\gtrsim\rm{few}\times10^{12}~\mathrm{cm^{-2}}$. Since a majority of our sightlines with HCO$^+$ had such high column densities, this likely indicates that non-equilibrium chemistry is important for these lines of sight.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, the Anomalous Microwave Emission, and Their Connection to the Cold Neutral Medium

Using new large area maps of the cold neutral medium (CNM) fraction, $f_{\rm CNM}$, we investigate the relationship between the CNM, the abundance of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and the anomalous microwave emission (AME). We first present our $f_{\rm CNM}$ map based on full-sky HI4PI data, using a convolutional neural network to covert the spectroscopic HI data to $f_{\rm CNM}$. We demonstrate that $f_{\rm CNM}$ is strongly correlated with the fraction of dust in PAHs as estimated from mid- and far-infrared dust emission. In contrast, we find no correlation between $f_{\rm CNM}$ and the amount of AME per dust emission, nor between $f_{\rm CNM}$ and the AME peak frequency. These results suggest PAHs preferentially reside in cold, relatively dense gas, perhaps owing to enhanced destruction in more diffuse media. The lack of correlation between $f_{\rm CNM}$ and AME peak frequency is in tension with expectations from theoretical models positing different spectral energy distributions of AME in the cold versus warm neutral medium. We suggest that different PAH abundances and emission physics in different interstellar environments may explain the weaker than expected correlation between 12$μ$m PAH emission and AME even if PAHs are the AME carriers.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

The role of neutral hydrogen in setting the abundances of molecular species in the Milky Way's diffuse interstellar medium. I. Observational constraints from ALMA and NOEMA

We have complemented existing observations of HI absorption with new observations of HCO$^+$, C$_2$H, HCN, and HNC absorption from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Northern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) in the direction of 20 background radio continuum sources with $4^\circ \leq |b| \leq 81^\circ$ to constrain the atomic gas conditions that are suitable for the formation of diffuse molecular gas. We find that these molecular species form along sightlines where $A_V \gtrsim 0.25$, consistent with the threshold for the HI-to-H$_2$ transition at solar metallicity. Moreover, we find that molecular gas is associated only with structures that have an HI optical depth $> 0.1$, a spin temperature $< 80$ K, and a turbulent Mach number $\gtrsim 2$. We also identify a broad, faint component to the HCO$^+$ absorption in a majority of sightlines. Compared to the velocities where strong, narrow HCO$^+$ absorption is observed, the HI at these velocities has a lower cold neutral medium (CNM) fraction and negligible CO emission. The relative column densities and linewidths of the different molecular species observed here are similar to those observed in previous experiments over a range of Galactic latitudes, suggesting that gas in the solar neighborhood and gas in the Galactic plane are chemically similar. For a select sample of previously-observed sightlines, we show that the absorption line profiles of HCO$^+$, HCN, HNC, and C$_2$H are stable over periods of $\sim 3$ years and $\sim 25$ years, likely indicating that molecular gas structures in these directions are at least $\gtrsim 100$ AU in size

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

The MACH HI absorption survey I: Physical conditions of cold atomic gas outside of the Galactic plane

Tracing the transition between the diffuse atomic interstellar medium (ISM) and cold, dense gas is crucial for deciphering the star formation cycle in galaxies. Here we present MACH, a new survey of cold neutral hydrogen (HI) absorption at $21\rm\,cm$ by the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. We target 42 bright background sources with $60 0.001$ are ubiquitous ($c\sim100\%$), whereas high optical depths ($τ>1$) are extremely rare ($c\sim0\%$).

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Extracting the cold neutral medium from HI emission with deep learning: Implications for Galactic foregrounds at high latitude

Resolving the phase structure of neutral hydrogen (HI) is crucial for understanding the life cycle of the interstellar medium (ISM). However, accurate measurements of HI temperature and density are limited by the availability of background continuum sources for measuring HI absorption. Here we test the use of deep learning for extracting HI properties over large areas without optical depth information. We train a 1D convolutional neural network using synthetic observations of 3D numerical simulations of the ISM to predict the fraction of cold neutral medium (f_CNM) and the correction to the optically-thin HI column density for optical depth (R_HI) from $21\rm\,cm$ emission alone. We restrict our analysis to high Galactic latitudes ($|b|>30 deg), where the complexity of spectral line profiles is minimized. We verify that the network accurately predicts f_CNM and R_HI by comparing the results with direct constraints from 21 cm absorption. By applying the network to the GALFA-HI survey, we generate large-area maps of f_CNM and R_HI. Although the overall contribution to the total HI column of cold neutral medium (CNM)-rich structures is small (~5%), we find that these structures are ubiquitous. Our results are consistent with the picture that small-scale structures observed in 21 cm emission aligned with the magnetic field are dominated by CNM. Finally, we demonstrate that the observed correlation between HI column density and dust reddening (E(B-V)) declines with increasing R_HI, indicating that future efforts to quantify foreground Galactic E(B-V) using HI, even at high latitudes, should increase fidelity by accounting for HI phase structure.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Small-scale structure traced by neutral hydrogen absorption in the direction of multiple-component radio continuum sources

We have studied the small scale distribution of atomic hydrogen (HI) using 21-cm absorption spectra against multiple-component background radio continuum sources from the 21-SPONGE survey and the Millennium Arecibo Absorption Line Survey. We have found $>5σ$ optical depth variations at a level of $\sim0.03-0.5$ between 13 out of 14 adjacent sightlines separated by a few arcseconds to a few arcminutes, suggesting the presence of neutral structures on spatial scales from a few to thousands of AU (which we refer to as tiny scale atomic structure, TSAS). The optical depth variations are strongest in directions where the HI column density and the fraction of HI in the cold neutral medium (CNM) are highest, which tend to be at low Galactic latitudes. By measuring changes in the properties of Gaussian components fitted to the absorption spectra, we find that changes in both the peak optical depth and the linewidth of TSAS absorption features contribute to the observed optical depth variations, while changes in the central velocity do not appear to strongly impact the observed variations. Both thermal and turbulent motions contribute appreciably to the linewidths, but the turbulence does not appear strong enough to confine overpressured TSAS. In a majority of cases, the TSAS column densities are sufficiently high that these structures can radiatively cool fast enough to maintain thermal equilibrium with their surroundings, even if they are overpressured. We also find that a majority of TSAS is associated with the CNM. For TSAS in the direction of the Taurus molecular cloud and the local Leo cold cloud, we estimate densities over an order of magnitude higher than typical CNM densities.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

The 3D Kinematics of Gas in the Small Magellanic Cloud

We investigate the kinematics of neutral gas in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and test the hypothesis that it is rotating in a disk. To trace the 3D motions of the neutral gas distribution, we identify a sample of young, massive stars embedded within it. These are stars with radial velocity measurements from spectroscopic surveys and proper motion measurements from Gaia, whose radial velocities match with dominant HI components. We compare the observed radial and tangential velocities of these stars with predictions from the state-of-the-art rotating disk model based on high-resolution 21 cm observations of the SMC from the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder telescope. We find that the observed kinematics of gas-tracing stars are inconsistent with disk rotation. We conclude that the kinematics of gas in the SMC are more complex than can be inferred from the integrated radial velocity field. As a result of violent tidal interactions with the LMC, non-rotational motions are prevalent throughout the SMC, and it is likely composed of distinct sub-structures overlapping along the line of sight.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

GaussPy+: A fully automated Gaussian decomposition package for emission line spectra

Our understanding of the dynamics of the interstellar medium is informed by the study of the detailed velocity structure of emission line observations. One approach to study the velocity structure is to decompose the spectra into individual velocity components; this leads to a description of the dataset that is significantly reduced in complexity. However, this decomposition requires full automation lest it becomes prohibitive for large datasets, such as Galactic plane surveys. We developed GaussPy+, a fully automated Gaussian decomposition package that can be applied to emission line datasets, especially large surveys of HI and isotopologues of CO. We built our package upon the existing GaussPy algorithm and significantly improved its performance for noisy data. New functionalities of GaussPy+ include: i) automated preparatory steps, such as an accurate noise estimation, which can also be used as standalone applications; ii) an improved fitting routine; iii) an automated spatial refitting routine that can add spatial coherence to the decomposition results by refitting spectra based on neighbouring fit solutions. We thoroughly tested the performance of GaussPy+ on synthetic spectra and a test field from the Galactic Ring Survey. We found that GaussPy+ can deal with cases of complex emission and even low to moderate signal-to-noise values.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

Exploring the properties of warm and cold atomic hydrogen in the Taurus and Gemini regions

We report Arecibo 21 cm absorption-emission observations to characterise the physical properties of neutral hydrogen (HI) in the proximity of five giant molecular clouds (GMCs): Taurus, California, Rosette, Mon OB1, and NGC 2264. Strong HI absorption was detected toward all 79 background continuum sources in the ~60x20 square degree region. Gaussian decompositions were performed to estimate temperatures, optical depths and column densities of the cold and warm neutral medium (CNM, WNM). The properties of individual CNM components are similar to those previously observed along random Galactic sightlines and in the vicinity of GMCs, suggesting a universality of cold HI properties. The CNM spin temperature (Ts) histogram peaks at ~50K. The turbulent Mach numbers of CNM vary widely, with a typical value of ~4, indicating that their motions are supersonic. About 60% of the total HI gas is WNM, and nearly 40% of the WNM lies in thermally unstable regime 500-5000K. The observed CNM fraction is higher around GMCs than in diffuse regions, and increases with increasing column density (NHI) to a maximum of ~75%. On average, the optically thin approximation (N*(HI)) underestimates the total N(HI) by ~21%, but we find large regional differences in the relationship between N(HI) and the required correction factor, f=N(HI)/N*(HI). We examine two different methods (linear fit of f vs log10(N*(HI)) and uniform Ts) to correct for opacity effects using emission data from the GALFA-HI survey. We prefer the uniform Ts method, since the linear relationship does not produce convincing fits for all subregions.

astro-ph.GA↗