Generation of Interstellar Class II 72-81A^＋ and 72-81A^- Methanol Masers

New methanol maser lines at 72 → 63A^-（86.6 GHz） and 72 → 63A^＋（86.9 GHz） together with two candidate methanol maser lines at 72 → 81A-（80.99GHz） and 72→81A^＋（111.29GHz） have been detected in W3（OH）. We use a pumping mechanism, i.e., methanol masers without population inversion, to explain the formation of weak methanol masers of 72 → 81A^＋ and 72→ 81A^-. We explain well why the line-shape of the transition 72 → 81A^＋ is not typical. A similar argument can be applied to the A-type level system 72A^-, 63A^- and 81A^-, as well as to the 72 → 81A^- 80.99 GHz masers.     

A Possible Origin of 6.7 GHz Linear Methanol Maser Sources

LETTERS1 INTRODUCTIONNew1y formed massive stars are obscured by dust, and their clearest signature is oftenat radio frequencies from strong maser emission. Methanol maser emission arises from severaItransitions, the strongest being the 5o -- 61A line at 6.7 GHz, which is also the second strongestGalactic masers of any molecule, first reported by Meaten (1991) and recognized as typical ofClass II masers. CIass II methanol masers are always found in regions of receat massive starfOr…     

Statistical Properties of 6.7 GHz Methanol Maser Sources

We present a statistical analysis of 482 6.7 GHz methanol maser sources from the available literature, on their maser emission and the characteristics of their associated infrared sources. On the color-color diagram, more than 70% of the objects fall within a very small region (0.57 ≤ [25 - 12] ≤ 1.30 and 1.30 ≤[60 - 12] ≤ 2.50). This suggests that 6.7 GHz methanol maser emission occurs only within a very short evolutionary phase during the earliest stage of star formation. The velocity ranges of the masers belong to two main groups: one from 1 to 10 km s^-1, and one from about 11 to 20 km s^-1. These velocity ranges indicate that the masers are probably associated with both disks and outflows. The correlations between the maser and infrared flux densities, and between the maser and infrared luminosities, suggest that far-infrared radiation is a possible pumping mechanism for the masers which most probably originate from some outer molecular envelopes or disks.     

Measuring the Distance of VX Sagittarii with SiO Maser Proper Motions

We report on 43GHz v=1, J=1-0 SiO maser proper motions in the circumstellar envelope of the M-type semi-regular variable star VX Sgr, observed by Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) at 3 epochs during 1999 April-May. Applying the statistical parallax analysis to these proper motions, we estimated a distance of VX Sgr of 1.57±0.27kpc, which is consistent with that based on the proper motions of H2O masers, or on the assumption that VX Sgr belongs to the Sgr OB1 association. At this distance, VX Sgr can be classified as a red supergiant. Comparing the statistical parallax method with those of model fitting and annual parallax, we think that the statistical parallax method may be a good way of estimating SiO maser distances at present.     

Database of molecular masers and variable stars

We present the database of maser sources in H2 O, OH and Si O lines that can be used to identify and study variable stars at evolved stages. Detecting the maser emission in H2 O, OH and Si O molecules toward infrared-excess objects is one of the methods for identifing long-period variables(LPVs, including miras and semiregulars), because these stars exhibit maser activity in their circumstellar shells. Our sample contains 1803 known LPV objects. Forty-six percent of these stars(832 objects) manifest maser emission in the line of at least one molecule: H2 O, OH or Si O. We use the database of circumstellar masers in order to search for LPVs which are not included in the General Catalogue of Variable Stars(GCVS). Our database contains 4806 objects(3866 objects without associations in GCVS) with maser detection in at least one molecule. Therefore it is possible to use the database in order to locate and study the large sample of LPV stars. The database can be accessed at http://maserdb.net.     

Infrared Characteristics of Associated Sources of Water Masers

We present an analysis of the infrared properties of 1417 water masers collected from the literature published by December 2004. The associated infrared sources of the water masers were identified with IRAS and MSX (Midcourse Space Experiment) catalogues. There are 1252 water masers associated with IRAS sources within 1', which include 700 interstellar and 552 stellar sources. For 382 sources, the IRAS counterpart identification and the maser classification are new. We found the colors of the interstellar maser sources are much redder than those of the stellar ones at IRAS wavelength bands; 99% of the interstellar maser sources are above black body line, while 95% of the stellar masers are below. The distribution difference of the two kinds of masers shown in the color-color diagram is due to their different optical depths and temperature distributions of dust regions. There are 743 water masers with MSX counterparts, of which 552 are interstellar masers and 191 are stellar masers. MSX colors of the associated sources of water masers are here analyzed for the first time. The color differences among the MSX bands are small and the interstellar masers are redder than the stellar masers. There is a correlation between the intensity of the stellar water maser emission and that of the 12μm and 25μm emissions, while there is no correlation between the water maser emission and the 8 μm emission. The infrared intensity increases with increasing wavelength for the interstellar masers, while it is the opposite for stellar masers. These results may provide clues for the pumping of water maser and for the properties of the two kinds of maser emission regions.     

A Possible Pumping Mechanism for Interstellar Class Ⅱ 107 GHz Methanol Masers

It is recognized that the interstellar methanol-107 GHz masers and OH-4.765 GHz masers towards Class Ⅱ sources are associated with each other and coexist towards ultracompact HⅡ regions. Therefore we suggest a new pumping mechanism-methanol masers without population inversion. It can explain the formation of 107GHz methanol masers, with the 4.765GHz OH masers acting as a driving coherent microwave field. It is argued that this mechanism is compatible with the astronomical conditions.     

Detection of the Far-IR Pumping Lines for OH Masers

Circumstellar hydroxyl (OH) masers are believed to be radiatively pumped (Elitzur et al. 1976). However, the proposed pumping mechanism has not been directly observed before now, because the far-IR spectral lines which correspond to the pumping cycle transitions are unobservable from the ground. We present ISO¹ observations of the strong OH maser source IRC +10420. Our spectra clearly show the 34.6-μm doublet in absorption, and the ensuing rotational cascade lines at 98.7, 163 and 79 μm in emission. These spectra provide the first direct confirmation of the radiative pumping cycle for OH masers. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Study of variable stars associated with maser sources: G025.65+1.05

We report variation of K-band infrared(IR) emission in the vicinity of the G025.65+1.05 water and methanol maser source. New observational data were obtained with the 2.5 m telescope at the Caucasian Mountain Observatory(CMO) of Moscow State University on 2017–09–21 during a strong water maser flare. We found that the IR source situated close to the maser position had decreased brightness in comparison to archive data. This source is associated with a massive young stellar object(MYSO) corresponding to the compact IR source IRAS 18316–0602(RAFGL 7009 S). A similar decrease in K-brightness of the IR source close to the maser position was observed in March 2011 when the water maser experienced a period of increased activity. The dips in MYSO brightness can be related to the maser flare phases. Maser flares that are concurrent with dips in the IR emission can be explained if the lower IR radiation field enables a more efficient sink for the pumping cycle by allowing IR photons to escape the maser region.     

Quasar SDSS J142507.32+323137.4: dual AGNs?

We analyze the optical spectrum of type 1 QSO SDSS J1425+3231.This object is interesting since its narrow emission lines,such as O IIIλλ4959,5007,are double-peaked,and the line structure can be modeled well by three Gaussian components:two components for the two peaks (we refer to the peaks at low/high redshift as the blue/red component) and another one for the line wing which has the same line center as that of the blue component,but is ～ 3 times broader.The separation between the blue and red components i...     

Variability of emission lines in the optical spectra of the Herbig Be binary system HD 200775

In our previous papers we have improved the value of the orbital period of the binary Herbig Be star HD 200775 and showed that the [O I] and Si II 6347 and 6371 ?A emission lines displayed variations which correlate with the orbital period. In this paper we provide evidences that other broad emission lines of metals in the spectra of HD 200775 also exhibit variability, which is probably related to the orbital cycle of the binary. Analysis was performed based on the high-resolution spectral data collected over a time span of 6 years at the Kourovka Astronomical Observatory of the Ural Federal University(Russia) and the Three College Observatory of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro(USA) as well as archival spectral data compiled since 1994. We report new data points in the radial velocity curve of the He I 5876 ?A line near the extremal values of the radial velocity.     

A Survey and Statistics of Interstellar OH and H_2O Masers

We present a statistical analysis of a sky survey of interstellar H2O and OH masers. These masers can be classified into three categories: isolated H2O masers, isolated OH masers, and simple OH/H2O maser associations. The total number of sources in each category is of the same order of magnitude, and as an evolutionary phase they can maintain -105 yr. An improved radiative pumping mechanism is proposed. This model avoids some of the deficiencies of previous radiative models, such as shortage of exciting photons. The statistical results obtained from the survey can be interpreted by the new mechanism together with the evolutionary model in which the gravitational force of the central stellar objects is responsible for the HII region.     

The Synchrotron-self-Compton Radiation Accompanying Shallow Decaying X-Ray Afterglow： the Case of GRB 940217

High energy emission (> tens MeV) of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) provides an important clue on the physical processes occurring in GRBs that may be correlated with the GRB early afterglow. A shallow decline phase has been well identified in about half of Swift Gamma-ray Burst X-ray afterglows. The widely considered interpretation involves a significant energy injection and possibly time-evolving shock parameter(s). We calculate the synchrotron-self-Compton (SSC) radiation of such an external forward shock and show that it could explain the well-known long term high energy (i.e., tens MeV to GeV) afterglow of GRB 940217. We propose that cooperation of Swift and GLAST will help to reveal the nature of GRBs.     

Maser Emission of Relativistic Electrons Spiralling and Drifting in Curved Magnetic Fields

Synchro-curvature radiation describes the emission from a relativistic charged par- ticle which is moving and spiralling in a curved magnetic field. We investigate the maser emission for synchro-curvature radiation including drift of the guiding center of the radiating electron. It is shown that under some conditions the absorption coefficient can be negative, so maser can happen. These conditions are different from those needed for maser emission of curvature radiation including drift of the charged particles. We point out that our results, in- cluding the emissivity, can reduce to these of curvature radiation. Previously it was found that synchro-curvature radiation can not generate maser in vacuum, but we argue that synchro- curvature radiation including drift can generate maser even in vacuum. We discuss the possi- bilities of the potential applications of the synchro-curvature maser in modeling gamma ray bursts and pulsars.     

The Long-term Survival Chances of Young Massive Star Clusters

We review the long-term survival chances of young massive star clusters (YMCs), hallmarks of intense starburst episodes often associated with violent galaxy interactions. We address the key question as to whether at least some of these YMCs can be considered proto- globular clusters (GCs), in which case these would be expected to evolve into counterparts of the ubiquitous old GCs believed to be among the oldest galactic building blocks. In the absence of significant external perturbations, the key factor determining a cluster's long-term survival chances is the shape of its stellar initial mass function (IMF). It is, however, not straightforward to assess the IMF shape in unresolved extragalactic YMCs. We discuss in detail the promise of using high-resolution spectroscopy to make progress towards this goal, as well as the numerous pitfalls associated with this approach. We also discuss the latest progress in worldwide efforts to better understand the evolution of entire cluster systems, the disruption processes they are affected by, and whether we can use recently gained insights to determine the nature of at least some of the YMCs observed in extragalactic starbursts as proto-GCs. We conclude that there is an increasing body of evidence that GC formation appears to be continuing until today; their long-term evolution crucially depends on their environmental conditions, however.     

Detecting radio afterglows of gamma-ray bursts with FAST

Using the generic hydrodynamic model of gamma-ray burst(GRB) afterglows, we calculate the radio afterglow light curves of low luminosity, high luminosity,failed and standard GRBs in different observational bands of FAST’s energy window.The GRBs are assumed to be located at different distances from us. Our results rank the detectability of GRBs in descending order as high luminosity, standard, failed and low luminosity GRBs. We predict that almost all types of radio afterglows except those of low luminosity GRBs could be observed by a large radio telescope as long as the domains of time and frequency are appropriate. It is important to note that FAST can detect relatively weak radio afterglows at a higher frequency of 2.5 GHz for very high redshift up to z = 15 or even more. Radio afterglows of low luminosity GRBs can only be detected after the completion of the second phase of FAST. FAST is expected to significantly expand the sample of GRB radio afterglows in the near future.     

The advection-dominated accretion flow＋thin accretion disk model for two low-luminosity active galactic nuclei： M81 and NGC 4579

It was found that advection-dominated accretion flow (ADAF)+thin disk model calculations can reproduce the observed spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of two low- luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGNs), provided they are accreting at ～ 0.01 - 0.03 Eddington rates and the thin disks are truncated to ADAFs at～ 100Rs (Rs is the Schwarzschild radius) for M81 and NGC 4579 (Quataert et al. 1999). However, the black hole masses adopted in their work are about one order of magnitude lower than recent measurements on these two sources. Adopting the well estimated black hole masses, our ADAF+thin disk model calculations can reproduce the observed SEDs of these two low- luminosity AGNs, if the black hole is accreting at 2.5 × 10-4 Eddington rates with the thin disk truncated at Rtr = 120Rs for M81 ((m) = 3.3 × 10-3 and Rtr = 80Rs are required for NGC 4579). The transition zones with temperature from the thin disk with 104 - 105 to～109 - 1010 K in the ADAF will inevitably emit thermal X-ray lines, which provides a useful diagnosis of their physical properties. The observed widths of the thermal X-ray iron lines at(～)6.8 keV are consistent with Doppler broadening by Keplerian motion of the gases in the transition zones at～100Rs. We use the structure of the transition zone between the ADAF and the thin disk derived by assuming the turbulent diffusive heat mechanism to calculate their thermal X-ray line emission with the standard software package Astrophysical Plasma Emission Code (APEC). Comparing them with the equivalent widths of the observed thermal X-ray iron lines in these two sources, we find that the turbulent diffusive heat mechanism seems to be unable to reproduce the ob- served thermal X-ray line emission. The test of the evaporation model for the accretion mode transition with the observed thermal X-ray line emission is briefly discussed.     

The spiral structure of the Milky Way

The morphology and kinematics of the spiral structure of the Milky Way are long-standing problems in astrophysics.In this review we firstly summarize various methods with different tracers used to solve this puzzle.The astrometry of Galactic sources is gradually alleviating this difficult situation caused mainly by large distance uncertainties, as we can currently obtain accurate parallaxes(a few μas) and proper motions(≈1 km s~(-1)) by using Very Long Baseline Interferometry(VLBI).On the other hand, the Gaia mission is providing the largest, uniform sample of parallaxes for O-type stars in the entire Milky Way.Based upon the VLBI maser and Gaia O-star parallax measurements, nearby spiral structures of the Perseus, Local, Sagittarius and Scutum Arms are determined in unprecedented detail.Meanwhile, we estimate fundamental Galactic parameters of the distance to the Galactic center,R_0, to be 8.35 ± 0.18 kpc, and circular rotation speed at the Sun, Θ_0, to be 240±10 km s~(-1).We found kinematic differences between O stars and interstellar masers: the O stars, on average, rotate faster,8 km s~(-1) than maser-traced high-mass star forming regions.     

The optical/UV excess of X-ray-dim isolated neutron star Ⅱ.Nonuniformity of plasma on a strangeon star surface

Several X-ray-dim isolated neutron stars(XDINSs), also known as the Magnificent Seven,exhibit a Planck-like soft X-ray spectrum. In the optical/ultraviolet(UV) band, there is an excess of radiation compared to an extrapolation from the X-ray spectrum. However, the majority exhibits "spectral deviations": the fact that there is more flux at longer wavelengths makes spectra deviate from the Rayleigh-Jeans law. A model of bremsstrahlung emission from a nonuniform plasma atmosphere is proposed in the regime of a strangeon star to explain the optical/UV excess and its spectral deviation as well as X-ray pulsation. The atmosphere is on the surface of strangeon matter, which has negligible emission, and is formed by the accretion of ISM-fed debris disk matter moving along the magnetic field lines to near the polar caps. These particles may spread out of the polar regions which makes the atmosphere non-uniform. The modeled electron temperatures are ~100-200 eV with radiation radii R_(opt)~∞~5-14 km. The spectra of five sources(RX J0720.4–3125, RX J0806.4–4123, RX J1308.6+2127, RX J1605.3+3249, RX J1856.5–3754) from optical/UV to X-ray bands can be fitted well by the radiative model, and exhibit Gaussian absorption lines at ~100-500 eV as would be expected.Furthermore, the surroundings(i.e., fallback disks or dusty belts) of XDINSs could be tested by future infrared/submillimeter observations.     

Dense molecular gas tracers in high mass star formation regions

We report the FCRAO observations that mapped HCN(1–0), CS(2–1), HNC(1–0) and HCO+(1–0) in ten high-mass star forming cores associated with water masers. We present velocity integrated intensity maps of the four lines for these dense cores, compare their line profiles, and derive physical properties of these cores. We find that these four tracers identify areas with similar properties in these massive dense cores, and in most cases, the emissions of HCN and HCO+are stronger than those of HNC and CS. We also use the line ratios of HCO+/HCN, HNC/HCN and HNC/HCO+as the diagnostics to explore the environment of these high-mass star forming regions, and find that most of the cores agree with the model that photodominated regions dominate the radiation field, except for W44, for which the radiation field is similar to an X-ray dominated region.