Catherine Zucker edited sectionMethdology_To.tex  about 9 years ago

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\section{Methdology}  To search for more bones, we visually inspect regions ($|l| < 30\degr$, $|b| < .5\degr$) (-30 \textless l \textless 30, -1 \textless b \textless 1)  where arms are predicted to lie according to our current understanding of the Milky Way's structure; the expected (l,b,v) paths of the Galactic arms are calculated using a log-spiral approximation, as described in the literature. The predicted positions of the Galactic arms (Scutum-Centaurus, Carina-Sagittarius, Norma-Cygnus, and Perseus) are overlaid on three-color GLIMPSE Spitzer \citep{Benjamin_2003,Churchwell_2009} images in World Wide Telescope---a tool that facilitates easy visualization of several layers of data at scales from the full sky down to the highest-resolution details. As part of our initial criteria, we search for long, continuous, filamentary mid-infrared extinction features that are near and roughly parallel to the Galactic mid-plane. This initial inspection yielded about 15 Bone candidates, and a video showing how this search worked in WWT is available at tinyurl.com/morenessies. Regardless of this initial visual inspection, the true nature of these filaments, and their association with a spiral feature, can only be established by looking at radial velocity data. The filament must have similar line-of-sight velocities along its length. Moreover, the measured radial velocities should be very close to those predicted by the Milky Way's rotation curve for arms at a known distance. To investigate the velocity structure of these fifteen filaments, we employ radial velocity data from four separate radio surveys: HOPS \citep{Purcell_2012,Walsh_2011}, MALT90 \citep{Foster_2011,Jackson_2013}, BGPS \citep{Schlingman_2011} and GRS \citep{Jackson_2006}. The HOPS, MALT90, and BGPS surveys are all geared towards probing dense regions hosting the early stages of high mass star formation. From the HOPS survey, we utilize the thermal line from ammonia. With a critical density of about $10^{4}\textrm{ cm}^{-3}$, ammonia traces dense molecular gas and is often found in dense, cool clouds with temperatures less than 100 K \citep{Purcell_2012}. The $\mathrm{N_2H^{+}}$ and HCO$^{+}$ thermal line we utilize from the MALT90 and BGPS surveys are also particularly strong in cold dense regions. While the HOPS and BGPS surveys are complete over 100 and 170 square degrees, respectively, MALT90 was a follow-up survey targeted towards $\approx2000$ dense molecular clumps first identified in the ATLASGAL 870 $\micron$ Galactic plane survey \citep{Schuller_2009}. As infrared dark clouds tend to harbor cool, high density clumps of gas which fuel the formation of massive stars, all three of these databases contain spectra for hundreds of regions within the longitude range of the potential bone-like filaments.