The physics of the HII regions: the photoionization equilibrium in the HII regions of M51

Gutiérrez, L.; Beckman, J. E.
Bibliographical reference

Lecture Notes and Essays in Astrophysics, vol. 3. Proceedings of the 3rd Symposium of the Astrophysics Group of the Spanish Royal Physical Society (Real Sociedad Española de Física, RSEF), held 10-14 September, 2007 in Granada, Spain. Edited by A. Ulla and M. Manteiga. Torculo Press, ISBN 84-936098-0-1, p. 177-188.

Advertised on:
12
2008
Number of authors
2
IAC number of authors
0
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
A general overview of the physical properties of the HII regions is presented here, emphasizing the various general models made to explain their structure and behaviour. The Lyman continuum effective extinction, representing a measure of the extinguished or lost fraction of the ionizing flux, is explained briefly, and the results of a study performed on this matter are presented. This study, based on a sample of about 200 HII regions of the galaxy M51 using high resolution images acquired with the HST, suggests a highly inhomogeneous structure.