Class I and Class II methanol masers in high-mass star forming regions

TL;DR

This study surveys Class I and II methanol masers in 296 high-mass star forming regions to understand their occurrence during different evolutionary stages, revealing similar detection ratios but increased activity in more evolved regions.

Contribution

It provides the first large-scale comparative analysis of Class I and II methanol masers across different evolutionary stages of high-mass star forming regions.

Findings

Detection rates of masers are similar in High and Low sources.

All maser types have higher detection rates in more evolved High sources.

Masers become more active as star forming regions evolve.

Abstract

Among the tracers of the earliest phases in the massive star formation process, methanol masers have gained increasing importance. The phenomenological distinction between Class I and II methanol masers is based on their spatial association with objects such as jets, cores, and ultracompact HII regions, but is also believed to correspond to different pumping mechanisms: radiation for Class II masers, collisions for Class I masers. In this work, we have surveyed a large sample of massive star forming regions - 296 objects divided into two groups named 'High' and 'Low' according to their [25-12] and [60-12] IRAS colours - in Class I and II methanol masers. Previous studies indicate that the High sources are likely more evolved. Therefore, the sample can be used to assess the existence of a sequence for the occurrence of Class I and II methanol masers during the evolution of a massive star forming region. We observed the 6 GHz (Class II) CH3OH maser with the Effelsberg 100-m telescope, and the 44 GHz and 95 GHz (Class I) CH3OH masers with the Nobeyama 45-m telescope. We have detected: 55 sources in the Class II line (12 new detections); 27 sources in the 44 GHz Class I line (17 new detections); 11 sources in the 95 GHz Class I line (all except one are new detections). Our statistical analysis shows that the ratio between the detection rates of Class II and Class I methanol masers is basically the same in High and Low sources. Therefore, both masers are equally associated with each evolutionary phase. In contrast, all maser species have about 3 times higher detection rates in High than in Low sources. This might indicate that the phenomena that originate all masers become progressively more active with time, during the earliest evolutionary phases of a high-mass star forming region.