INTERACTING GALACTIC NEUTRAL HYDROGEN FILAMENTS AND ASSOCIATED HIGH-FREQUENCY CONTINUUM EMISSION

Galactic H i emission profiles in an area where several large-scale filaments at velocities ranging from −46 km s⁻¹ to 0 km s⁻¹ overlap were decomposed into Gaussian components. Eighteen families of components defined by similarities of center velocity and line width were identified and related to small-scale structure in the high-frequency continuum emission observed by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe spacecraft, as evidenced in the Internal Linear Combination (ILC) map of Hinshaw et al. When the center velocities of the Gaussian families, which summarize the properties of all the H i along the lines of sight in a given area, are used to focus on H i channel maps the phenomenon of close associations between H i and ILC peaks reported in previous papers is dramatically highlighted. Of particular interest, each of two pairs of H i peaks straddles a continuum peak. The previously hypothesized model for producing the continuum radiation involving free–free emission from electrons is re-examined in light of the new data. By choosing reasonable values for the parameters required to evaluate the model, the distance for associated H i–ILC features is of order 30–100 pc. No associated Hα radiation is expected because the electrons involved exist throughout the Milky Way. The mechanism for clumping and separation of neutrals and electrons needs to be explored. It is concluded that the small-scale ILC structure originates in the local interstellar medium and not at cosmological distances.