Modelling the Pan-Spectral Energy Distribution of Starburst Galaxies: II. Control of the \HII Region Parameters

Abstract

We examine, from a theoretical viewpoint, how the physical parameters of HII regions are controlled in both normal galaxies and in starburst environments. These parameters are the HII region luminosity function, the time-dependent size, the covering fraction of molecular clouds, the pressure in the ionized gas and the ionization parameter. The factors which control them are the initial mass function of the exciting stars, the cluster mass function, the metallicity and the mean pressure in the surrounding interstellar medium. We investigate the sensitivity of the H$\alpha$ luminosity to the IMF, and find that this can translate to more than a factor two variation in derived star formation rates. The molecular cloud dissipation timescale is estimated from a case study of M17 to be $\sim1$ Myr for this object. Based upon HII luminosity function fitting for nearby galaxies, we suggest that the \HII region cluster mass function is fitted by a log-normal form peaking at $\sim 100 M_{\odot}$. The cluster mass function continues the stellar IMF to higher mass. The pressure in the HII regions is controlled by the mechanical luminosity flux from the central cluster. Since this is closely related to the ionizing photon flux, we show that the ionization parameter is not a free variable, and that the diffuse ionized medium may be composed of many large, faint and old HII regions. Finally, we derive theoretical probability distributions for the ionization parameter as a function of metallicity and compare these to those derived for SDSS galaxies.