2022A&A...664A..88E

Context. Ionized gas probes the influence of massive stars on their environment. The Cygnus X region (d ∼ 1.5 kpc) is one of the most massive star-forming complexes in our Galaxy, within which the Cyg OB2 association (age of 3-5 Myr and stellar mass 2 x 10⁴ M_☉) has a dominant influence.
Aims. We observe the Cygnus X region at 148 MHz using the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) and take short-spacing information into account during image deconvolution into account. Together with data from the Canadian Galactic Plane Survey, we investigate the morphology, distribution, and physical conditions of low-density ionized gas in a 4° x 4° (∼100 pc x 100 pc) region at a resolution of 2' (0.9 pc).
Methods. The Galactic radio emission in the region analyzed is almost entirely thermal (free-free) at 148 MHz, with emission measures (EM) of 10³ < EM [pc cm^–6] < 10⁶. As filamentary structure is a prominent feature of the emission, we use DisPerSE and Fil ChaP to identify filamentary ridges and characterize their radial (EM) profiles.
Results. The distribution of radial profiles has a characteristic width of 4.3 pc and a power-law distribution (β = -1.8 ± 0.1) in peak EM down to our completeness limit of 4200 pc cm^–6. The electron densities of the filamentary structure range between 10 ≤ n_e [cm^–3] ≤ 400 with a median value of 35 cm^–3, remarkably similar to [N II] surveys of ionized gas.
Conclusions. Cyg OB2 may ionize at most two-thirds of the total ionized gas and the ionized gas in filaments. More than half of the filamentary structures are likely photoevaporating surfaces flowing into a surrounding diffuse (∼5 cm^–3) medium. However, this is likely not the case for all ionized gas ridges. A characteristic width in the distribution of ionized gas indicates that the stellar winds of Cyg OB2 create a fraction of the ionized filaments through swept-up ionized gas or dissipated turbulence.