BUBBLY: A method for detecting and characterizing interstellar bubbles using Fabry-Perot spectroscopy

TL;DR

This paper introduces BUBBLY, a novel method utilizing Fabry-Perot spectroscopy to detect and analyze expanding interstellar bubbles, especially around HII regions, providing detailed physical parameters and ages of these structures.

Contribution

The paper presents a new technique for identifying and characterizing interstellar bubbles using high-resolution spectral data, enabling detailed physical analysis.

Findings

Successful detection of superbubbles in the Antennae galaxies

Measurement of expansion velocities around 100 km/s

Estimation of bubble ages to date star clusters

Abstract

We present a new method for the detection and characterization of expansion in galaxy discs based on H{\alpha} Fabry-Perot spectroscopy, taking advantage of the high spatial and velocity resolution of our instrument (GH{\alpha}FaS). The method analyses multi-peaked emission line profiles to find expansion along the line of sight on a point-by-point basis. At this stage we have centred our attention on the large scale structures of expanding gas associated with HII regions which show a characteristic pattern of expansion velocities, of order 100 km/s, as a result of both bubble shape and projection effects. We show an example of the expansion map obtained with our method from a superbubble detected in the Antennae galaxies. We use the information obtained from the method to measure the relevant physical parameters of the superbubbles, including their ages which can be used to date young star clusters.