Mid-infrared Spectroscopy of OH Megamasers

Details Mid-infrared Spectroscopy of OH Megamasers Mid-infrared Spectroscopy of OH Megamasers

Dec 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007aas...21114105w&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #211, #141.05; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.991

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

We present mid-infrared spectra of a sample of 40 OH megamasers (OHMs) taken with the Infrared Spectrograph on the Spitzer Space Telescope. The results are compared with a control sample of non-masing ULIRGs in order to characterize differences in the global properties of host galaxies that may serve as tracers for megamaser emission. The OHMs are a relatively uniform population, displaying emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and fine-structure emission lines, moderate to deep absorption from cool dust, and scattered examples of hydrocarbon and water ice absorption. The control sample galaxies possess similar SEDs to the OHMs, with the exception of one continuum-dominated galaxy with no identified emission features and extremely weak dust absorption. We compute thermal dust temperatures, H2 gas temperatures and masses, star formation rates, and decomposed SEDs for both samples. Measurements of the silicate feature at 9.7 μm also suggest that the deepest absorption is associated exclusively with galaxies that contain OHMs. We analyze the mid-IR properties of both the masing and non-masing ULIRGs to search for statistical differences between the two samples. Our results are also compared to predictions of megamaser theory testing the relation between the radio OH emission and the bulk properties of the interstellar medium.
This work was based on observations made with the Spitzer Space Telescope, operated by JPL/Caltech, with support from NASA under program 30407.

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