FUSE spectra analysis of hot subdwarf stars

We make use of this fact to determine the level of ionization in the nearby warm neutral medium. By analyzing Far-Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer observations of ultraviolet spectra of 44 hot subdwarf stars a few hundred parsecs away from the Sun, we can compare column densities of Ar I to those of O I, where the relative ionization of oxygen can be used as a proxy for that of hydrogen.

The measured deficiency [ArI/OI]=-0.427+/-0.11dex below the expectation for a fully neutral medium implies that the electron density n(e){approx}0.04/cm3 if n(H)=0.5/cm3. This amount of ionization is considerably larger than what we expect from primary photoionizations resulting from cosmic rays, the diffuse X-ray background, and X-ray emitting sources within the medium, along with the additional ionizations caused by energetic secondary photoelectrons, Auger electrons, and photons from helium recombinations.