Methanol Masers: Reliable Tracers of the Early Stages of High-Mass Star Formation

By S. Ellingsen. 2005

157 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The GLIMPSE and MSX surveys have been used to examine the mid-infrared properties of a statistically complete sample of 6.7 GHz methanol masers. The GLIMPSE point sources associated with methanol masers are clearly distinguished from the majority, typically having extremely red mid-infrared colors similar to those expected of low-mass Class 0 young stellar objects. The intensity of the GLIMPSE sources associated with methanol masers is typically 4 mag brighter at 8.0 μm than at 3.6 μm. Targeted searches toward GLIMPSE point sources with [3.6] - [4.5] > 1.3 and an 8.0 μm magnitude less than 10 will detect more than 80% of Class II methanol masers. Many of the methanol masers are associated with sources within infrared dark clouds (IRDCs), which are believed to mark regions where high-mass star formation is in its very early stages. The presence of Class II methanol masers in a significant fraction of IRDC suggests that high-mass star formation is common in these regions. Different maser species are thought to trace different evolutionary phases of the high-mass star formation process. Comparison of the properties of the GLIMPSE sources associated with Class II methanol masers and other maser species shows interesting trends, consistent with Class I methanol masers tracing a generally earlier evolutionary phase and OH masers tracing a later evolutionary phase.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Atmospheric Science, Spectroscopy

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/878a02777cf8ace2a48002977d7d77e9063b5390

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. M. Povich
2. B. Whitney
3. T. Pillai
4. L. Anderson
5. R. Indebetouw
6. Jin Han
7. D. Balser
8. J. Rathborne

In Atmospheric Science

1. R. Indebetouw
2. B. Whitney
3. T. Pillai
4. L. Hou
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In Spectroscopy

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2. B. Whitney
3. T. Pillai
4. L. Hou
5. Jin Han
6. J. Rathborne

Citations in the corpus

• The observed spiral structure of the Milky Way (2014, background): “The 6.7 GHz methanol masers (Menten 1991) have been widely detected from massive star forming regions in our Galaxy (e.g., Pestalozzi et al. 2005; Ellingsen 2006; Green et al. 2010, 2012).”
• THE GREEN BANK TELESCOPE H ii REGION DISCOVERY SURVEY. II. THE SOURCE CATALOG (2011, background): “H II regions are expected to be associated with methanol masers in the earliest phases of high mass star formation (Ellingsen 2006).”
• FRAGMENTATION AT THE EARLIEST PHASE OF MASSIVE STAR FORMATION (2009, background): “While some massive IRDCs show signs of massive star formation through H2O maser emission (Wang et al. 2006), CH3OH maser emission (Ellingsen 2006), molecular outflows (Beuther & Sridharan 2007), and bright 24 μm emission (Rathborne et al. 2005), a large majority do not show signs of star formation…”
• A CATALOG OF EXTENDED GREEN OBJECTS IN THE GLIMPSE SURVEY: A NEW SAMPLE OF MASSIVE YOUNG STELLAR OBJECT OUTFLOW CANDIDATES (2008, methodology): “Ellingsen (2006) reports kinematic distances for detected 6.7 GHz CH3OH masers; the near kinematic distances for masers associated with EGOs from Ellingsen (2006) are listed in column 5 of Table 7.”