Galactic HII Regions & Milky Way Structure

特雷·温格被授予美国国家科学基金会天文学和天体物理学奖学金，以在威斯康星大学开展一项研究和教育计划。温格将利用对H II区-年轻热星周围的电离气体气泡-进行的大规模高质量观测，创建最全面的银河系化学和形态结构图。这项研究的结果将促进我们对银河系形成和演化的理解。对于这个项目的教育部分，温格将开发材料，以扩大小型射电望远镜作为非专业天文学课程和公众考察的教学工具的使用。利用对H I吸收、射电复合线和射电连续体的现有和新的观测，该研究项目将产生最全面的银河系当今形态和化学结构的图景。为了实现这一目标，研究人员将：(1)确定在数百个星系H-II区中偶然发现的表观电离气体速度梯度的来源；(2)解决大约100个新发现的H-II区的运动距离模糊性；(3)创建第一张全星系范围的H-II区金属地图；以及(4)应用一种新的机器学习技术来推断银河系高质量恒星形成区人口的形态结构。这项裁决反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Trey Wenger is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at the University of Wisconsin. Wenger will use large high-quality observational surveys of H II regions – the bubbles of ionized gas around young hot stars – to create the most comprehensive map of the chemical and morphological structure of the Milky Way galaxy. Results from the study will advance our understanding of how the Galaxy formed and evolved. For the educational component of this project, Wenger will develop materials to broaden the use of small radio telescopes as an instructional tool for non-major astronomy courses and public outreach.Using existing and new observations of H I absorption, radio recombination lines, and radio continuum, this research project will yield the most comprehensive picture of the Milky Way’s present day morphological and chemical structure. To achieve that goal, the investigator will: (1) determine the origin of apparent ionized gas velocity gradients serendipitously discovered in hundreds of Galactic H II regions; (2) resolve the kinematic distance ambiguity for approximately 100 newly discovered H II regions; (3) create the first Galaxy-wide map of H II region metallicities; and (4) apply a novel machine learning technique to infer the morphological structure of the Milky Way’s high-mass star-forming region population.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.