Star Formation in Massive Clusters via the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe and the Spitzer Glimpse Survey

Abstract

We use the WMAP maximum entropy method foreground emission map combined with previously determined distances to giant HII regions to measure the free-free flux at Earth and the free-free luminosity of the galaxy. We find a total flux f_\nu=54211 Jy and a flux from 88 sources of f_\nu=36043 Jy. The bulk of the sources are at least marginally resolved, with mean radii ~60 pc, electron density n_e ~ 9 cm^{-3}, and filling factor \phi_{HII}=0.005 (over the Galactic gas disk). The total dust-corrected ionizing photon luminosity is Q=3.2x10^{53} photons/s, in good agreement with previous estimates. We use GLIMPSE and MSX 8 micron images to show that the bulk of the free-free luminosity is associated with bubbles having radii r~5-100 pc, with a mean ~20 pc. These bubbles are leaky, so that ionizing photons from inside the bubble excite free-free emission beyond the bubble walls, producing WMAP sources that are larger than the 8 micron bubbles. We suggest that the WMAP sources are the counterparts of the extended low density HII regions described by Mezger (1978). Half the ionizing luminosity from the sources is emitted by the nine most luminous objects, while the seventeen most luminous emit half the total Galactic ionizing flux. These 17 sources have 4x10^{51} < Q <1.6x10^{52}, corresponding to 6x10^4M_\odot < M_*< 2x10^5M_\odot; half to two thirds of this will be in the central massive star cluster. We convert the measurement of Q to a Galactic star formation rate dM/dt=1.3M_\odot/yr, but point out that this is highly dependent on the exponent \Gamma~1.35 of the high mass end of the stellar initial mass function.