SCOTCH Search for Clandestine Optically Thick Compact HII regions II

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution radio observations to identify and characterize young, compact HII regions, revealing a significant increase in known hypercompact HII regions and their association with masers.

Contribution

The paper presents new high-frequency radio observations that increase the known population of hypercompact HII regions by 50% and provides detailed physical properties of these young stellar objects.

Findings

Identified 13 HC HII regions and 6 intermediate objects.

Discovered 1 radio jet candidate.

80% of HC HII regions are associated with masers.

Abstract

In this study we present 18 to 24 GHz and high angular resolution radio wavelength Australia Telescope Compact Array follow up observations towards a sample of 39 HC HII region candidates. These objects, taken from a sample hosting 6.7 GHz methanol masers, were chosen due to the compact and optically thick nature of their continuum emission. We have detected 27 compact radio sources and constructed their spectral energy distributions over the 5 to 24 GHz range to determine the young HII regions physical properties, i.e., diameter, electron density ne, emission measure, Lyman continuum flux NLy and turnover frequency. The flux measurements are fitted for 20 objects assuming an ionisation bounded HII region with uniform density model. For the remaining 7 objects that lack constraints spanning both their optically thick and thin regimes, we utilise relations from the literature to determine their physical properties. Comparing these determined parameters with those of known hypercompact and ultracompact HII regions, we have identified 13 HC HII regions, 6 intermediate objects that fall between HC HII and UC HII regions, 6 UC HII regions and one radio jet candidate which increases the known population of HC HII regions by 50 per cent. All the young and compact HII regions are embedded in dusty and dense clumps and 80 percent of the HC HII regions identified in this work are associated with various maser species. Four of our radio sources remain optically thick at 24 GHz, we consider these to be amongst the youngest HC HII regions.