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Register a new userConstraints on OH Megamaser Excitation from a Survey of OH Satellite Lines
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We report the results of a full-Stokes survey of all four 18 cm OH lines in 77 OH megamasers (OHMs) using the Arecibo Observatory. This is the first survey of OHMs that included observations of the OH satellite lines; only 4 of the 77 OHMs have existing satellite line observations in the literature. In 5 sources, satellite line emission is detected, with 3 of the 5 sources re-detections of previously published sources. The 2 sources with new detections of satellite line emission are IRAS F10173+0829, which was detected at 1720 MHz, and IRAS F15107+0724, for which both the 1612 MHz and 1720 MHz lines were detected. In IRAS F15107+0724, the satellite lines are partially conjugate, as 1720 MHz absorption and 1612 MHz emission have the same structure at some velocities within the source, along with additional broader 1612 MHz emission. This is the first observed example of conjugate satellite lines in an OHM. In the remaining sources, no satellite line emission is observed. The detections and upper limits are generally consistent with models of OHM emission in which all of the 18 cm OH lines have the same excitation temperature. There is no evidence for a significant population of strong satellite line emitters among OHMs.
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Using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) we performed a high resolution OH maser survey in Galactic star-forming regions (SFRs). We observed all the ground state spectral lines: the main lines at 1665 and 1667 MHz and the satellite lines at 1612 and 1720 MHz. Due to the exceptionality of finding satellite lines in SFRs, we will focus our discussion on those lines. In our sample of 41 OH maser sources, five (12%) showed the 1612 MHz line and ten (24%) showed the 1720 MHz line, with only one source showing both lines. We find that 1720 MHz emission is correlated with the presence of HII regions, suggesting that this emission could be used to diagnose or trace high-mass star formation. We include an analysis of the possible mechanisms that could be causing this correlation as well as assessing the possible relationships between lines in our sample. In particular, the presence of magnetic fields seems to play an important role, as we found Zeeman splitting in four of our sources (W75 N, W3(OH), W51 and NGC 7538). Our results have implications for current understanding of the formation of high-mass stars as well as on the masing processes present in SFRs.
We have used the Arecibo Telescope to carry out one of the deepest-ever integrations in radio astronomy, targetting the redshifted conjugate satellite OH 18 cm lines at $z approx 0.247$ towards PKS1413+135. The satellite OH 1720 and 1612 MHz lines are respectively in emission and absorption, with exactly the same line shapes due to population inversion in the OH ground state levels. Since the 1720 and 1612 MHz line rest frequencies have different dependences on the fine structure constant $alpha$ and the proton-electron mass ratio $mu$, a comparison between their measured redshifts allows one to probe changes in $alpha$ and $mu$ with cosmological time. In the case of conjugate satellite OH 18 cm lines, the predicted perfect cancellation of the sum of the line optical depths provides a strong test for the presence of systematic effects that might limit their use in probing fundamental constant evolution. A non-parametric analysis of our new Arecibo data yields $left[Delta X/X right] = (+0.97 pm 1.52) times 10^{-6}$, where $X equiv mu alpha^2$. Combining this with our earlier results from the Arecibo Telescope and the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, we obtain $left[Delta X/X right] = (-1.0 pm 1.3) times 10^{-6}$, consistent with no changes in the quantity $mu alpha^2$ over the last 2.9~Gyr. This is the most stringent present constraint on fractional changes in $mu alpha^2$ from astronomical spectroscopy, and with no evidence for systematic effects.
We present the serendipitous detection of the two main OH maser lines at 1667 and 1665 MHz associated with IRAS 10597+5926 at z = 0.19612 in the untargeted Apertif Wide-area Extragalactic Survey (AWES), and the subsequent measurement of the OH 1612 MHz satellite line in the same source. With a total OH luminosity of log(L/L_Sun) = 3.90 +/- 0.03, IRAS 10597+5926 is the fourth brightest OH megamaser (OHM) known. We measure a lower limit for the 1667/1612 ratio of R_1612 > 45.9 which is the highest limiting ratio measured for the 1612 MHz OH satellite line to date. OH satellite line measurements provide a potentially valuable constraint by which to compare detailed models of OH maser pumping mechanisms. Optical imaging shows the galaxy is likely a late-stage merger. Based on published infrared and far ultraviolet fluxes, we find that the galaxy is an ultra luminous infrared galaxy (ULIRG) with log(L_TIR/L_Sun) = 12.24, undergoing a star burst with an estimated star formation rate of 179 +/- 40 M_Sun/yr. These host galaxy properties are consistent with the physical conditions responsible for very bright OHM emission. Finally, we provide an update on the predicted number of OH masers that may be found in AWES, and estimate the total number of OH masers that will be detected in each of the individual main and satellite OH 18 cm lines.
We report Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope and Arecibo Telescope observations of the redshifted satellite OH-18cm lines at $z sim 0.247$ towards PKS1413+135. The conjugate nature of these lines, with one line in emission and the other in absorption, but with the same shape, implies that the lines arise in the same gas. The satellite OH-18cm line frequencies also have different dependences on the fine structure constant $alpha$, the proton-electron mass ratio $mu = m_p/m_e$, and the proton gyromagnetic ratio $g_p$. Comparisons between the satellite line redshifts in conjugate systems can hence be used to probe changes in $alpha$, $mu$, and $g_p$, with few systematic effects. The technique yields the expected null result when applied to Cen.A, a nearby conjugate satellite system. For the $z sim 0.247$ system towards PKS1413+135, we find, on combining results from the two telescopes, that $[Delta G/G] = (-1.18 pm 0.46) times 10^{-5}$ (weighted mean), where $G = g_p [mu alpha^2]^{1.85}$; this is tentative evidence (with $2.6 sigma$ significance, or at 99.1% confidence) for a smaller value of $alpha$, $mu$, and/or $g_p$ at z~0.247, i.e. at a lookback time of ~2.9 Gyrs. If we assume that the dominant change is in $alpha$, this implies $[Delta alpha /alpha ] = (-3.1 pm 1.2) times 10^{-6}$. We find no evidence that the observed offset might be produced by systematic effects, either due to observational or analysis procedures, or local conditions in the molecular cloud.
We present the results of a comprehensive survey using the Arecibo Observatory for Zeeman splitting of OH lines in OH megamasers (OHMs). A total of seventy-seven sources were observed with the Arecibo telescope. Of these, maser emission could not be detected for eight sources, and two sources were only ambiguously detected. Another twenty-seven sources were detected at low signal-to-noise ratios or with interference that prevented placing any useful limits on the presence of magnetic fields. In twenty-six sources, it was possible to place upper limits on the magnitude of magnetic fields, typically between 10-30 mG. For fourteen sources, the Stokes V spectra exhibit features consistent with Zeeman splitting. Eleven of these fourteen are new detections, and the remaining three are re-detections of Stokes V detections in Robishaw et al. (2008). Among confident new detections, we derive magnetic fields associated with maser regions with magnitudes ranging from 6.1-27.6 mG. The distribution of magnetic field strengths suggests the magnetic fields in OH masing clouds in OHMs are larger than those in Galactic OH masers. The results are consistent with magnetic fields playing a dynamically important role in OH masing clouds in OHMs.
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