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K. Wood (SAO), R. J. Reynolds (Wisconsin)
We present Monte Carlo simulations of the Diffuse H\alpha Galactic Background. Our models comprise direct and multiply scattered H\alpha radiation from the Kpc scaleheight Warm Ionized Medium and midplane H~II regions. The scattering is off dust that is assumed to be well mixed with the gas, with scaleheights and scalelengths taken from the literature. We investigate smooth and clumpy models. The results of our simulations are all-sky H\alpha images that enable us to separate out the contributions of direct and scattered radiation. We also determine how far the model H\alpha photons have travelled, i.e., how far we see into the Galaxy at H\alpha. Our models reproduce the overall characteristics of the observed H\alpha background, with the clumpy models showing many filamentary structures. Our models predict the scattered H\alpha intensity at high latitudes is in the range 5% to 20% of the direct emission, in agreement with observations based on [S~II]/H\alpha line ratio measurements.
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The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: kenny@claymore.harvard.edu