Probing the early phases of high mass star formation with 6.7 GHz methanol masers

TL;DR

This study analyzes 6.7 GHz methanol masers in massive star-forming regions to understand their properties and evolutionary stages, using spectral energy distributions from infrared surveys to infer physical characteristics and star formation potential.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of the spectral energy distributions of methanol maser hosts, revealing their potential for high mass star formation and their evolutionary status.

Findings

Most maser hosts can harbor high mass stars.

Majority of sources are in the accretion phase.

Some sources may be related to intermediate or low-mass stars.

Abstract

Methanol masers at 6.7 GHz are the brightest of class II methanol masers and have been found exclusively towards massive star forming regions. These masers can thus be used as a unique tool to probe the early phases of massive star formation. We present here a study of the spectral energy distributions of 320 6.7 GHz methanol masers chosen from the MMB catalogue, which fall in the Hi-GAL range ($|l| \le 60^{\circ}$, $|b| \le 1^{\circ}$). The spectral energy distributions are constructed from $870 - 70~\mu$m using data from the ATLASGAL and Hi-GAL surveys. The emission from cold dust is modelled by a single grey body component fit. We estimate the clump properties such as mass, FIR luminosity and column density using the best fit parameters of the SED fits. Considering the Kauffman criteria for massive star formation, we find that all but a few maser hosts have the potential to harbour at least one high mass star. The physical properties of the methanol maser hosts are also discussed. The evolutionary stages of 6.7 GHz maser sources, explored using the mass luminosity diagram, suggests that they are predominantly associated with high mass stars with the majority being in the accretion phase. However, we observe a small number of sources that could possibly be related to intermediate or low-mass stars.