A New View of the Highly-Ionized Gas in the Milky Way

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Scientific paper

Using the highest resolution mode of STIS (R>114,000, 1.3-2.7 km/s), we provide new insight into the physical properties of the highly ionized plasma probed by the "high ions" (CIV, SiIV, NV). We use a high-quality sample of 38 sightlines probing both the Galactic disk and halo gas. Contrary to common belief, we find that 40-50% of the individual components of SiIV and CIV are narrow, implying cool temperatures of T<50,000 K. Very few of these narrow components are consistent with photoionization by OB-type stars; photoionization from radiatively cooling hot plasma or the remains of a hot radiatively cooling gas is a more likely scenario. The remaining 50% is consistent with >100,000 K plasma, but the contribution from non-thermal motions can be significant. Thus, the broad components may be hot, collisionally ionized gas, but some fraction may also be cooler gas with significant non-thermal components. We finally compare the properties of the highly-ionized gas with other gas-phase tracers (e.g., AlIII, SiII, X-rays) in order to decipher the relationship between the various phases of the interstellar gas.

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