Properties of atomic hydrogen gas in the Galactic plane from THOR 21-cm absorption spectra: a comparison with the high latitude gas

TL;DR

This study compares atomic hydrogen gas properties in the Galactic plane and high latitudes using 21 cm absorption and emission spectra, revealing temperature and molecular fraction differences related to galactic environment.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of atomic hydrogen properties in different Galactic environments using combined absorption and emission data, highlighting variations in temperature and molecular content.

Findings

Lower average gas temperature in the Galactic plane.

Higher molecular fraction in the Galactic plane.

Presence of gas with intermediate optical depth and higher spin temperature in the Galactic plane.

Abstract

The neutral hydrogen 21 cm line is an excellent tracer of the atomic interstellar medium in the cold and the warm phases. Combined 21 cm emission and absorption observations are very useful to study the properties of the gas over a wide range of density and temperature. In this work, we have used 21 cm absorption spectra from recent interferometric surveys, along with the corresponding emission spectra from earlier single dish surveys to study the properties of the atomic gas in the Milky Way. In particular, we focus on a comparison of properties between lines of sight through the gas disk in the Galactic plane and high Galactic latitude lines of sight through more diffuse gas. As expected, the analysis shows a lower average temperature for the gas in the Galactic plane compared to that along the high latitude lines of sight. The gas in the plane also has a higher molecular fraction, showing a sharp transition and flattening in the dust - gas correlation. On the other hand, the observed correlation between 21 cm brightness temperature and optical depth indicates some intrinsic difference in spin temperature distribution and a fraction of gas in the Galactic plane having intermediate optical depth (for 0.02 < $\tau$ < 0.2) but higher spin temperature, compared to that of the diffuse gas at high latitude with the same optical depth. This may be due to a small fraction of cold gas with slightly higher temperature and lower density present on the Galactic plane.