On the Fractal Distribution of HII Regions in Disk Galaxies

TL;DR

This study measures the fractal distribution of HII regions in disk galaxies, revealing significant variation in clustering patterns that depend on galaxy brightness and HII region luminosity.

Contribution

It provides a precise calculation of the correlation dimension of HII regions, challenging the idea of a universal fractal pattern in galaxy star formation.

Findings

Faint galaxies have more clustered HII regions.

Fractal dimension varies significantly among galaxies.

Brighter HII regions tend to be less uniformly distributed.

Abstract

In this work we quantify the degree to which star-forming events are clumped. We apply a precise and accurate technique to calculate the correlation dimension Dc of the distribution of HII regions in a sample of disk galaxies. Our reliable results are distributed in the range 1.5<Dc<2.0. We get significant variations in the fractal dimension among galaxies, contrary to a universal picture sometimes claimed in literature. The faintest galaxies tend to distribute their HII regions in more clustered (less uniform) patterns. Moreover, the fractal dimension for the brightest HII regions within the same galaxy seems to be smaller than for the faintest ones suggesting some kind of evolutionary effect.