The diversity of methanol maser morphologies from VLBI observations

TL;DR

This study uses VLBI observations to analyze the diverse morphologies of 6.7 GHz methanol masers in high-mass star-forming regions, revealing their association with discs, outflows, and early stages of star formation.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed morphological classification of methanol masers, including a new prevalent 'ring-like' class, and links maser structures to star formation processes.

Findings

29% of masers are 'ring-like' morphology.

Most masers are associated with IR emission, indicating early star formation stages.

Methanol masers originate near discs or tori around massive protostars.

Abstract

We investigate which structures the 6.7 GHz methanol masers trace in the environment of high-mass protostar candidates by observing a homogenous sample of methanol masers selected from Torun surveys. We also probed their origins by looking for associated H II regions and IR emission. We selected 30 methanol sources with improved position accuracies achieved using MERLIN and another 3 from the literature. We imaged 31 of these using the European VLBI Network's expanded array of telescopes with 5-cm (6-GHz) receivers. We used the VLA to search for 8.4 GHz radio continuum counterparts and inspected Spitzer GLIMPSE data at 3.6-8 um from the archive. High angular resolution images allowed us to analyze the morphology and kinematics of the methanol masers in great detail and verify their association with radio continuum and mid-infrared emission. A new class of "ring-like" methanol masers in star--forming regions appeared to be suprisingly common, 29 % of the sample. The new morphology strongly suggests that methanol masers originate in the disc or torus around a proto- or a young massive star. However, the maser kinematics indicate the strong influence of outflow or infall. This suggests that they form at the interface between the disc/torus and a flow. This is also strongly supported by Spitzer results because the majority of the masers coincide with 4.5 um emission to within less than 1 arcsec. Only four masers are associated with the central parts of UC H II regions. This implies that 6.7 GHz methanol maser emission occurs before H II region observable at cm wavelengths is formed.