Multi-frequency VLBI observations of maser lines during the 6.7~GHz maser flare in the high-mass young stellar object G24.33$+$0.14}

TL;DR

This study uses multi-frequency VLBI observations to analyze the spatial structure and evolution of methanol and water masers during a 6.7 GHz maser flare in a high-mass young stellar object, revealing insights into maser mechanisms and star formation processes.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed multi-epoch, multi-frequency VLBI imaging of maser flares in G24.33+0.14, linking maser activity with IR flux and star formation structures.

Findings

Maser cloudlets are distributed over ~3500 au with stable morphology.

Brightness variations follow the total flux density on a two-month timescale.

Maser emissions originate from different regions: disk and outflow/jets.

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that 6.7 GHz methanol maser flares can be a powerful tool for verifying the mechanisms of maser production and even the specific signatures of accretion rate changes in the early stages of high-mass star formation. We characterize the spatial structure and evolution of methanol and water masers during a flare of methanol maser emission at 6.7 GHz in the HMYSO G24.33$+$0.14. VLBA was used to image the 6.7 and 12.2 GHz methanol and 22.2 GHz water vapor masers at three epochs guided by monitoring the methanol line with the Torun 32m telescope. The 6.7 GHz maser maps were also obtained with the EVN and LBA during the flare. WISE data were used to find correlations between the 6.7 GHz maser and IR fluxes. The 6.7 GHz methanol maser cloudlets are distributed over $\sim$3500 au, and the morphology of most of them is stable although their brightness varies following the course of the total flux density on a timescale of two months. The 12.2 GHz methanol maser cloudlets cover an area an order of magnitude smaller than that of 6.7 GHz emission, and both transitions emerge from the same masing gas. The 22.2 GHz maser cloudlets lie in the central region and show a systematic increase in brightness and moderate changes in size and orientation, together with the velocity drift of the strongest cloudlet during two months of the VLBI observing period. Time lag estimates imply the propagation of changes in the physical conditions of the masing region with a subluminal speed ($\sim$0.3c). A tight correlation of IR (4.6$\mu$m) and 6.7 GHz flux densities is found, supporting the radiative pumping model. Comparison with the 230 GHz ALMA data indicates that the methanol masers are distributed in the inner part of the rotating disk, whereas the 22.2 GHz emission traces the compact inner component of the bipolar outflow or a jet structure.