IR Dust Bubbles: Probing the Detailed Structure and Young Massive Stellar Populations of Galactic HII Regions

TL;DR

This study analyzes infrared bubbles in galactic HII regions to understand their structure and star formation, revealing the distribution of gas, dust, and young stars using multi-wavelength survey data.

Contribution

It provides detailed multi-wavelength analysis of IR dust bubbles, identifying their structure, potential stellar sources, and sites of triggered star formation, which advances understanding of HII region evolution.

Findings

Ionized gas and hot dust are centrally located within bubbles.

PAH emission surrounds the ionized regions, indicating photodissociation zones.

Candidate young stellar objects suggest ongoing star formation.

Abstract

We present an analysis of wind-blown, parsec-sized, mid-infrared bubbles and associated star-formation using GLIMPSE/IRAC, MIPSGAL/MIPS and MAGPIS/VLA surveys. Three bubbles from the Churchwell et al. (2006) catalog were selected. The relative distribution of the ionized gas (based on 20 cm emission), PAH emission (based on 8 um, 5.8 um and lack of 4.5 um emission) and hot dust (24 um emission) are compared. At the center of each bubble there is a region containing ionized gas and hot dust, surrounded by PAHs. We identify the likely source(s) of the stellar wind and ionizing flux producing each bubble based upon SED fitting to numerical hot stellar photosphere models. Candidate YSOs are also identified using SED fitting, including several sites of possible triggered star formation.