Submitting Campus

Daytona Beach

Department

Physical Sciences

Document Type

Article

Publication/Presentation Date

5-10-2023

Abstract/Description

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) has an extensive Hα emission halo that traces an extended, warm ionized component of its interstellar medium. Using the Wisconsin Hα Mapper telescope, we present the first kinematic Hα survey of an extensive region around the LMC, from (ℓ, b) = (264°.5, − 45°.5) to (295°.5, − 19°.5), covering +150 <= vLSR <= + 390 km s−1 . We find that ionized hydrogen exists throughout the galaxy and extends several degrees beyond detected neutral hydrogen emission (log 18.3 ( )) NH cm I -2 » as traced by 21 cm in current surveys. Using the column density structure of the neutral gas and stellar line-of-sight depths as a guide, we estimate the upper limit mass of the ionized component of the LMC to be roughly Mionized ≈ (0.6–1.8) × 109 M☉, which is comparable to the total neutral atomic gas mass in the same region (Mneutral ≈ 0.76–0.85 × 109 M☉). Considering only the atomic phases, we find Mionized/Mionized+neutral, to be 46%–68% throughout the LMC and its extended halo. Additionally, we find an ionized gas cloud that extends off of the LMC at (ℓ, b) ≈ (285°, − 28°) into a region previously identified as the Leading Arm complex. This gas is moving at a similar line-of-sight velocity as the LMC and has Mionized/Mionized+neutral = 13%–51%. This study, combined with previous studies of the SMC and extended structures of the Magellanic Clouds, continues to suggest that warm, ionized gas is as massive and dynamically important as the neutral gas in the Magellanic System.

Publication Title

The Astrophysical Journal

DOI

https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acc06e

Publisher

American Astronomical Society

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