No Arabic abstract
We present Very Large Array (VLA) radio interferometry observations of the 1720 MHz OH masers in the Galactic Center (GC). Most 1720 MHz OH masers arise in regions where the supernova remnant Sgr A East is interacting with the interstellar medium. The majority of the newly found 1720 MHz OH masers are located to the northeast, independently indicating and confirming an area of shock interaction with the +50 km/s molecular cloud (M-0.02-0.07) on the far side of Sgr A East. The previously known bright masers in the southeast are suggested to be the result of the interaction between two supernova remnants, instead of between Sgr A East and the surrounding molecular clouds as generally found elsewhere in the Galaxy. Together with masers north of the circumnuclear disk (CND) they outline an interaction on the near side of Sgr A East. In contrast to the interaction between the +50 km/s cloud and Sgr A East, OH absorption data do not support a direct interaction between the CND material and Sgr A East. We also present three new high-negative velocity masers, supporting a previous single detection. The location and velocities of the high-negative and high-positive velocity masers are consistent with being near the tangent points of, and physically located in the CND. We argue that the high velocity masers in the CND are pumped by dissipation between density clumps in the CND instead of a shock generated by the supernova remnant. That is, the CND masers are not coupled to the supernova remnant and are sustained independently.
We present results of spectral line observations of the ground state transitions of hydroxyl(OH) toward supernova remnant IC 443 carried out with the Green Bank Telescope. At a spatial resolution of 7.2 arcminutes we detect weak, extended OH(1720 MHz) maser emission with OH(1667/5,1612 MHz) absorption along the southern extent of the remnant, where no bright compact maser sources have been observed previously. These newly detected SNR-type masers are coincident with known molecular clumps and a ridge of shocked molecular hydrogen indicative of the SNR shock front interacting with the adjacent molecular cloud. Simultaneous observation of all four ground-state transitions of OH permits us to fit physical conditions of the shocked gas at the interaction site. A simple two-component model for the line profiles yields the physical parameters for detected regions of maser emission including excitation temperature, OH column density and filling factor. Observed line profiles suggest the shock is largely propagating toward the line-of-sight in the region of these newly identified weak masers. The implications of shock geometry and physical parameters in producing extended OH maser emission in SNRs are explored. We also present VLA radio continuum observations at 330 MHz for comparison with OH line observations of the remnant.
From targeted observations of ground-state OH masers towards 702 Multibeam (MMB) survey 6.7-GHz methanol masers, between Galactic longitudes 186$^{circ}$ through the Galactic centre to 20$^{circ}$, made as part of the `MAGMO project, we present the physical and polarisation properties of the 1720-MHz OH maser transition, including the identification of Zeeman pairs. We present 10 new and 23 previously catalogued 1720-MHz OH maser sources detected towards star formation regions. In addition, we also detected 16 1720-MHz OH masers associated with supernova remnants and two sites of diffuse OH emission. Towards the 33 star formation masers, we identify 44 Zeeman pairs, implying magnetic field strengths ranging from $-$11.4 to $+$13.2 mG, and a median magnetic field strength of $|B_{LOS}|$ $sim$ 6 mG. With limited statistics, we present the in-situ magnetic field orientation of the masers and the Galactic magnetic field distribution revealed by the 1720-MHz transition. We also examine the association statistics of 1720-MHz OH SFR masers with other ground-state OH masers, excited-state OH masers, class I and class II methanol masers and water masers, and compare maser positions with mid-infrared images of the parent star forming regions. Of the 33 1720-MHz star formation masers, ten are offset from their central exciting sources, and appear to be associated with outflow activity.
Observations of two of the formaldehyde (H2CO) masers (A and D) in Sgr B2 using the VLBA+Y27 (resolution ~0.01) and the VLA (resolution ~9) are presented. The VLBA observations show compact sources (<10 milliarcseconds, <80 AU) with brightness temperatures >10^8 K. The maser sources are partially resolved in the VLBA observations. The flux densities in the VLBA observations are about 1/2 those of the VLA; and, the linewidths are about 2/3 of the VLA values. The applicability of a core-halo model for the emission distribution is demonstrated. Comparison with earlier H2CO absorption observations and with ammonia (NH3) observations suggests that H2CO masers form in shocked gas. Comparison of the integrated flux densities in current VLA observations with those in previous observations indicates that (1) most of the masers have varied in the past 20 years, and (2) intensity variations are typically less than a factor of two compared to the 20-year mean. No significant linear or circular polarization is detected with either instrument.
Within a few parsecs around the central Black Hole Sgr A*, chemistry in the dense molecular cloud material of the circumnuclear disk (CND) can be affected by many energetic phenomena such as high UV-flux from the massive central star cluster, X-rays from Sgr A*, shock waves, and an enhanced cosmic-ray flux. Recently, spectroscopic surveys with the IRAM 30 meter and the APEX 12 meter telescopes of substantial parts of the 80--500 GHz frequency range were made toward selected positions in and near the CND. These datasets contain lines from the molecules HCN, HCO$^+$, HNC, CS, SO, SiO, CN, H$_2$CO, HC$_3$N, N$_2$H$^+$, H$_3$O$^+$ and others. We conduct Large Velocity Gradient analyses to obtain column densities and total hydrogen densities, $n$, for each species in molecular clouds located in the southwest lobe of CND. The data for the above mentioned molecules indicate 10$^5,$cm$^{-3} lesssim n <10^6,$cm$^{-3}$, which shows that the CND is tidally unstable. The derived chemical composition is compared with a chemical model calculated using the UCL_CHEM code that includes gas and grain reactions, and the effects of shock waves. Models are run for varying shock velocities, cosmic-ray ionization rates, and number densities. The resulting chemical composition is fitted best to an extremely high value of cosmic-ray ionization rate $zeta sim 10^{-14},$s$^{-1}$, 3 orders of magnitude higher than the value in regular Galactic molecular clouds, if the pre-shock density is $n=10^5,$cm$^{-3}$.
We present the first maps of 4765-MHz OH masers in two star-forming regions Cepheus A and W75N, made with Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network. In Cep A the emission has an arc-like structure of size 40 mas with a clear velocity gradient, and lies at the edge of H II region 3b Over a period of 8 weeks the maser diminished in intensity by a factor of 7 but its structure remained stable. This structure coincides with a newly mapped 1720-MHz maser in Cep A within the positional error, and matches it in velocity. The 1720-MHz line exhibits Zeeman splitting that corresponds to a magnetic field strength of -17.3 mG. In W75N the excited 4765-MHz OH maser has a linear structure of size 45 mas with a well defined velocity gradient, and lies at the edge of H II region VLA 1. This structure coincides in position and velocity with the 1720-MHz masers. We conclude that in both sources the 4765-MHz emission coexists with 1720-MHz emission in the same volume of gas. In such a case the physical conditions in these regions are tightly constrained by the maser-pumping models.