Massive Star Forming Regions in the Galaxy using the Spitzer GLIMPSE
  Survey
  We examine the thirteen most luminous sources in the WMAP free-free map using
the Spitzer GLIMPSE and MSX surveys to identify massive star formation regions,
emitting one-third of the Galactic free-free luminosity. We identify star
forming regions by a combination of bubble morphology in 8 $\micronm$ (PAH)
emission and radio recombination line radial velocities. We find 40 star
forming regions associated with our WMAP sources, and determine unique
distances to 31. We interpret the bubbles as evidence for radial expansion. The
radial velocity distribution for each source allows us to measure the intrinsic
speed of a region's expansion. This speed is consistent with the size and age
of the bubbles. The high free-free luminosities, combined with negligible
synchrotron emission, demonstrate that the bubbles are not driven by
supernovae. The kinetic energy of the largest bubbles is a substantial fraction
of that measured in the older superbubbles found by Heiles. We find that the
energy injected into the ISM by our bubbles is similar to that required to
maintain the turbulent motion in the gas disk inside 8 kpc. We report a number
of new star forming regions powered by massive ($\textrm{M}_{*} > 10^4
\textrm{M}_\sun$) star clusters. We measure the scale height of the Galactic O
stars to be $h_{\textrm{*}} = 35 \pm 5 \pc$. We determine an empirical
relationship between the PAH and free-free emission of the form
$F_{\textrm{PAH}} \propto F^2_{\textrm{ff}}$. Finally, we find that the bubble
geometry is more consistent with a spherical shell rather than a flattened
disk.
