Electrons in the supernova-driven interstellar medium

Context. Interstellar gas is in a highly turbulent dynamic state driven by successive supernova explosions and stellar winds, while its electron distribution is determined by microscopic processes such as ionization and recombination. In order to understand the properties of the electrons in the interstellar medium (ISM) it is necessary to follow numerically the nonlinear spatial and temporal evolution of the gas, its ionization structure, and its emission properties. Aims. We study the time evolution of the electrons in the ISM and how line of sight observations compare to volume analysis of the simulated medium populated with atoms and ions of the ten most abundant species. In particular, we make quantitative predictions about the occupation fractions and averaged densities of electrons, the dispersion measures, and their vantage point dependence. Methods. We carried out state-of-the-art adaptive mesh refinement simulations of the supernova-driven interstellar gas tracing the evolution of 112 ions and atoms of H, He, C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, and Fe and their emissivities in a time-dependent fashion. The gas is followed with the magnetohydrodynamical adaptive mesh refinement parallel code coupled with the Collisional + Photo Ionization Plasma Emission Software to trace the ionic structure and radiative emission of the plasma. Results. We show that more than 60% of the electrons are in thermally unstable regimes: about 50% at 200 < T ≤ 103.9 K and 14% at 104.2 < T ≤ 105.5 K. The probability density functions for the electron distribution in different temperature regimes is rather broad, also a result of turbulence in the ISM. Comparing the calculated dispersion measures along different lines of sight to observation, we find a very good agreement. They increase linearly for distances greater than 300 pc from the observer at an average rate of 27 cm−3 pc per kpc. The dispersion regarding the average dispersion measures does not decrease with distance along the line of sight, pointing to a high clumpiness of the electrons and of the turbulent ISM. The mean electron density in the Galactic midplane derived from the volume analysis varies between 0.029 and 0.031 cm−3, while that derived from the dispersion measures, varies between 0.0264 and 0.03 cm−3 depending on the vantage point and on the time averaged period. These variations can be as high as 8.3% between vantage points.