Water Maser Survey on AKARI and IRAS Sources: A Search for "Low-Velocity" Water Fountains

TL;DR

This study conducted a water maser survey on AGB and post-AGB star candidates using AKARI data, discovering potential water fountain sources that indicate early asymmetric outflows during stellar evolution.

Contribution

First survey to identify water fountain candidates using AKARI mid-infrared data, revealing new potential outflow sources in late stellar evolutionary stages.

Findings

36 new H2O maser detections among 204 objects

Identification of 4 potential water fountain sources with unique velocity coverage

Candidates are likely in early post-AGB phase with asymmetric outflows

Abstract

We present the results of a 22GHz H2O maser survey toward a new sample of AGB and post-AGB star candidates. Most of the objects are selected for the first time based on the AKARI data, which have high flux sensitivity in the mid-infrared ranges. We aim at finding H2O maser sources in the transient phase between the AGB and post-AGB stage of evolution, where the envelopes start to develop large deviations from spherical symmetry. The observations were carried out with the Effelsberg 100m radio telescope. Among 204 observed objects, 63 detections (36 new) were obtained. We found 4 objects which may be "water fountain" sources (IRAS 15193+3132, IRAS 18056-1514, OH 16.3-3.0, and IRAS 18455+0448). They possess an H2O maser velocity coverage much smaller than those in other known water fountains. However, the coverage is still larger than that of the 1612MHz OH maser. It implies that there is an outflow with a higher velocity than the envelope expansion velocity (typically <25 km/s), meeting the criterion of the water fountain class. We suggest that these candidates are possibly oxygen-rich late AGB or early post-AGB stars in a stage of evolution immediately after the spherically symmetric AGB mass-loss has ceased.