2009A&A...507.1467L

Ultra compact HII (UCHII) regions are indicators of high-mass star formation sites and are distributed mainly in the Galactic plane. They exhibit a broad band spectrum with significant emission between near-IR and radio wavelengths. We intend to investigate the possible contribution of the forthcoming ESA Planck mission to the science of UCHII regions by evaluating the possibility of detecting UCHIIs that are bright in the radio regime. We performed new 7mm observations of a sample of UCHII regions. The observations were designed to acquire high-frequency radio spectra. For each source in our sample, the free-free radio spectrum has been modeled. Along with far-IR measurements, our spectra allow us to estimate the flux densities of the sources in the millimeter and sub-millimeter bands. We extrapolated and summed the ionized-gas (free-free radio emission) and dust (thermal emission) contributions in the afore mentioned wavelength ranges. The possibility of Planck detecting the selected sources can be assessed by comparing the estimated flux densities to the expected sensitivity in each Planck channel. To obtain a realistic estimation of the noise produced by the Galactic emission, the Planck sky model software package was used. For each target source, from our new 7mm data and other radio measurements from the literature, important physical parameters such as electron density and their spatial distribution, source geometry and emission measure were derived. We conclude that, in the case of the present sample, located close to the Galactic center, Planck will have a very low detection rate. In contrast, assuming that our sample is representative of the whole UCHII-region population, we derive a very high probability of detecting this kind of source with Planck if located instead close to the anticenter. From the analysis of the ionized-gas properties, we suggest that the selected sample could also be contaminated by other kinds of Galactic objects.