MILKY WAY STAR-FORMING COMPLEXES AND THE TURBULENT MOTION OF THE GALAXY'S MOLECULAR GAS

We analyze Spitzer GLIMPSE, Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX), and Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) images of the Milky Way to identify 8 mu m and free-free sources in the Galaxy. Seventy-two of the 88 WMAP sources have coverage in the GLIMPSE and MSX surveys suitable for identifying massive star-forming complexes (SFCs). We measure the ionizing luminosity functions of the SFCs and study their role in the turbulent motion of the Galaxy's molecular gas. We find a total Galactic free-free flux f(nu) = 46,177.6 Jy; the 72 WMAP sources with full 8 mu m coverage account for 34,263.5 Jy (similar to 75%), with both measurements made at nu = 94 GHz (W band). We find a total of 280 SFCs, of which 168 have unique kinematic distances and free-free luminosities. We use a simple model for the radial distribution of star formation to estimate the free-free and ionizing luminosity for the sources lacking distance determinations. The total dust-corrected ionizing luminosity is Q = (2.9 +/- 0.5) x 10(53) photons s(-1), which implies a Galactic star formation rate of (M) over dot(*) = 1.2 +/- 0.2M(circle dot) yr(-1). We present the (ionizing) luminosity function of the SFCs and show that 24 sources emit half the ionizing luminosity of the Galaxy. The SFCs appear as bubbles in GLIMPSE or MSX images; the radial velocities associated with the bubble walls allow us to infer the expansion velocity of the bubbles. We calculate the kinetic luminosity of the bubble expansion and compare it to the turbulent luminosity of the inner molecular disk. SFCs emitting 80% of the total Galactic free-free luminosity produce a kinetic luminosity equal to 65% of the turbulent luminosity in the inner molecular disk. This suggests that the expansion of the bubbles is a major driver of the turbulent motion of the inner Milky Way molecular gas.