Interstellar Ionizing Radiation Field

We have been collaborating with Joss Bland-Hawthorn at the University of Sydney to present new models of the Galactic ionizing interstellar radiation field. This field is used as an input to photoionization models of gas clouds in the Galactic halo, which are needed to determine the physical properties and chemical properties of halo clouds. It represents a step forward over models that use the extragalactic background radiation. The figure shows our 2014 version of the model, with lines showing the contours of contant ionizing (blue) and non-ionizing (red) flux.