Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T17:24:05.707Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Masers in starburst galaxies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2007

Jeremy Darling*
Affiliation:
Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado, 389 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0389 email: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Masers in starburst galaxies are outstanding probes of a range of phenomena related to galaxy and black hole evolution, and offer unique high brightness temperature illumination that can be used to probe small scales in the host galaxy and in our own. But we require a deeper understanding of the galaxy-scale maser phenomenon if we wish to employ starburst galaxy masers as probes using the next generation of radio telescopes. This review summarizes what is known about the different flavors of masers in starburst galaxies and the setting and structure of OH megamasers. The question of which galaxies produce megamasers and which do not is critical to our understanding of the megamaser phenomenon, and recent studies of HCN and H2CO are particularly instructive. Constraints on the lifetime of OH megamasers and the predictability of OH megamaser line properties are critical issues to address in the near future. It is also time to begin the next wave of OH megamaser surveys at higher redshifts and to finally employ them as probes of starbursts, massive black holes, galaxy evolution, and intervening media.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2008

References

Araya, E., Baan, W. A., & Hofner, P. 2004, ApJS 154, 541CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baan, W. A., Wood, P. A., & Haschick, A. D. 1982, ApJ 260, L52CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baan, W. A., Güsten, R., & Haschick, A. D. 1986, ApJ 305, 830CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baan, W. A., Haschick, A. D., & Henkel, C. 1992, AJ 103, 728CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baan, W. A., Rhoads, J., Fisher, K., Altschuler, D. R., & Haschick, A. D. 1992, ApJ 396, L99CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baan, W. A., Salzer, J. J., & LeWinter, R. D. 1998, ApJ 509, 633CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baan, W. A. & Klöckner, H.-R. 2006, A&A 449, 559Google Scholar
Begelman, M. C., Blandford, R. D., & Rees, M. J. 1980, Nature 287 307CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darling, J. & Giovanelli, R. 2002a, AJ 124, 100CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darling, J. & Giovanelli, R. 2002b, ApJ 569, L87CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darling, J. & Giovanelli, R. 2002c, ApJ 572, 810CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darling, J. & Giovanelli, R. 2006, AJ 132, 2596CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darling, J. 2007a, in preparationGoogle Scholar
Darling, J. 2007b, in preparationGoogle Scholar
Darling, J. & Mangum, J. G. 2007, in preparationGoogle Scholar
Gao, Y. & Solomon, P. M. 2004, ApJ 606, 271CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klöckner, H.-R., Baan, W. A., & Garrett, M. A. 2003, Nature 421, 821CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klöckner, H.-R. & Baan, W. A. 2004, A&A 419, 887Google Scholar
Lo, K. Y. 2005, ARAA 43, 625CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lockett, P. & Elitzur, M. 2007, in preparationGoogle Scholar
Mangum, J. G., Darling, J., Menten, K. & Henkel, C. 2007, in preparationGoogle Scholar
Momjian, E., Romney, J. D., Carilli, C. L., & Troland, T. H. 2006, ApJ 653, 1172CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parra, R., Conway, J. E., Elitzur, M., & Pihlström, Y. M. 2005, A&A, 443, 383Google Scholar
Pihlström, Y. M., Conway, J. E., Booth, R. S., Diamond, P. J., & Polatidis, A. G. 2001, A&A 377, 413Google Scholar
Robishaw, T. 2006, BAAS 209, #198.06Google Scholar
Rovilos, E., Diamond, P., Lonsdale, C. J., Lonsdale, C. J., & Smith, H. E. 2003, MNRAS 342, 373CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vignali, C., Brandt, W. N., Comastri, A., & Darling, J. 2005, mnras 364, 99CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yates, J. A., Richards, A. M. S., Wright, M. M., Collett, J. L., Gray, M. D., Field, D., & Cohen, R. J. 2000, MNRAS 317, 28CrossRefGoogle Scholar