Star forming complexes in Galactic WMAP sources

The total dust-corrected ionizing luminosity is Q=(2.9+/-0.5)x10^53^photons/s, which implies a Galactic star formation rate of \dot{M}_{star}_=1.2+/-0.2{M}_{sun}_/yr. We present the (ionizing) luminosity function of the SFCs and show that 24 sources emit half the ionizing luminosity of the Galaxy. The SFCs appear as bubbles in GLIMPSE or MSX images; the radial velocities associated with the bubble walls allow us to infer the expansion velocity of the bubbles.

We calculate the kinetic luminosity of the bubble expansion and compare it to the turbulent luminosity of the inner molecular disk. SFCs emitting 80% of the total Galactic free-free luminosity produce a kinetic luminosity equal to 65% of the turbulent luminosity in the inner molecular disk. This suggests that the expansion of the bubbles is a major driver of the turbulent motion of the inner Milky Way molecular gas.