IonizationfrontsinHIIregions.PDFVIP

Ionization fronts in HII regions •  Initial expansion of HII ionization front is supersonic, creating a shock front. •  Stationary frame: front advances into neutral material shock •  In frame where shock front is stationary, neutral gas flows into front at velocity υ , with density i ρ , and leaves as ionized gas i with velocity υ and density ρ . 0 0 Jump conditions •  To derive jump conditions across front, assume transition region is very narrow (a good approximation). Apply mass, momentum and energy conservation to get density jump. •  Conservation of mass: Mass flow into the front must equal the mass flow out: ρ υ = ρ υ i i o o •  Conservation of Momentum:   Forces must balance on both sides of stationary front in reference frame of shock. Include momentum due to bulk flow, and pressure due to random motions: € 2 2 P + ρ υ = P + ρ υ i i i o o o where Pi and P0 are the thermal pressures on the two sides. € Conservation of  Energy •   Normally, would also need to consider energy conservation. For an ionization front, can just assume that temperatures (hence sound speeds) in both neutral and ionized gas are fixed: P = ρ a 2 i i i P = ρ a 2 o o o where a , a are the isothermal sound