English

Galactic HII regions in LAMOST Medium-Resolution Spectroscopic Survey of Nebulae

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2026-07-30 v1

Abstract

Based on LAMOST Medium-Resolution Spectroscopic Survey of Nebulae (MRS-N) data and WISE Galactic HII region catalog, we construct a sample of 280 Galactic HII regions and candidates in the Outer Galaxy (80^{\circ} \lesssim l \lesssim 220^{\circ}). Using MRS-N optical spectra, we measure four emission lines (Hα\alpha, [NII]λ\lambda6584, [SII]λλ\lambda\lambda6717,6731) and use line-ratios to spectroscopically confirm 255 HII regions, including 90 previously "Known" HII regions and 165 newly classified ones. We measure their TeT_{\rm e}, nen_{\rm e} and oxygen abundance, and determine distances via associated OB stars and the kinematic method. The sample spans RgalR_{\rm gal} from 8.16 to 15.36 kpc, enabling investigation of radial gradients in physical properties. We find [NII]/Hα\alpha and [SII]/Hα\alpha decrease with increasing RgalR_{\rm gal}, while [SII]/[NII] remains nearly flat; these trends are quite different from diffuse ionized gas (DIG). We derive the TeT_{\rm e} gradient of 344.530 ±\pm 78.083 K kpc1^{-1}, and the logne\log n_{\rm e} gradient of -0.143 ±\pm 0.041 cm3^{-3} kpc1^{-1}. Oxygen abundance shows a steep slope of -0.044 ±\pm 0.010 dex kpc1^{-1} in the inner disk and a shallow slope of -0.016 ±\pm 0.005 dex kpc1^{-1} in the outer disk, with a global slope of -0.014 ±\pm 0.005 dex kpc1^{-1}. We also examine the two-dimensional distributions of TeT_{\rm e}, nen_{\rm e}, and oxygen abundance, and find the gradients vary with azimuth. There is no obvious difference between spiral arm and interarm regions, and no trend appears along individual arms. From [NII]/Hα\alpha-[SII]λ\lambda6717/Hα\alpha diagram, HII regions have a S+^+/S ratio (0.32), lower than DIG (0.43); however, heavy overlap prevents clear separation from this diagram alone.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.27662,
  title  = {Galactic HII regions in LAMOST Medium-Resolution Spectroscopic Survey of Nebulae},
  author = {Yunning Zhao and Wei Zhang and Lin Ma and Shiming Wen and Tao Jing and Cheng Li and Zheng Zheng and Aiyuan Yang and Shichao Han and Juanjuan Ren and Jianjun Chen and Hong Wu and Yongheng Zhao},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.27662},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

21 pages, 13 figures, accepted by AJ