Simulation of pumping mechanism of H2O-masers in circumstellar envelopes of late-type stars

TL;DR

This paper models the radiative transfer and pumping mechanisms of H2O masers in the circumstellar envelopes of late-type stars, focusing on population inversion conditions for the 22.2 GHz line.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed simulation of H2O maser excitation considering both radiative and collisional pumping in a dense gas-dust environment.

Findings

Conditions for population inversion in the 22.2 GHz maser line identified

Influence of external stellar radiation on maser excitation analyzed

Level populations vary with distance in the circumstellar envelope

Abstract

The radiative transfer problem is considered in dense gas-dust clouds. Physical parameters are adopted in simulations corresponding to gas-dust clouds in the circumstellar envelopes of late-type stars. An one-dimensional plane-parallel slab geometry of the cloud is considered. The radiative transfer problem is solved using the accelerated lambda iteration technique. The rotational levels of the five lowest vibrational levels of H2O-molecule are considered in the simulations. The level populations of H2O-molecule are computed as a function of distance in the cloud. The conditions of the level population inversion occurrence are investigated. In particular, the factors controlling the population inversion in the 22.2 GHz maser line are considered. A radiative excitation of the molecules by external radiation field of a star is considered together with the collisional pumping of the maser.