Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: van der Walt, D. J.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.14490
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866908567843373056
author van der Walt, D. J.
author_facet van der Walt, D. J.
contents The questions of the rarity of the 4.8 GHz formaldehyde masers and the non-detection of 14.5 GHz formaldehyde masers are addressed from a theoretical point of view. The pumping free-free radiation fields were obtained using the photo-ionization code Cloudy to simulate hyper-compact HII regions. Implementation of these free-free radiation fields in solving the rate equations shows that the free-free radiation fields of some hyper-compact HII regions are ineffective to invert the 4.8 GHz transition. Investigation of the variation of the inversion of the 4.8 GHz and 14.5 GHz transitions with radial distance revealed that there are regions where only the 4.8 GHz transition is inverted. It is also shown that the projection of the masing region toward the edge of a hyper-compact may explain the non-detection of 14.5 GHz masers. The attenuation of the 4.8 GHz and 14.5 GHz masers in the molecular envelope is investigated. It is found that attenuation can be significant. Comparison of the velocities of the 4.8 GHz masers with the centre velocities of associated 4.8 GHz absorption features shows that the maser emission lies at the edge of the absorption features. This suggests that the masers may be associated with kinematic structures such as rotating toroids.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_14490
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Notes on the formaldehyde masers
van der Walt, D. J.
Astrophysics of Galaxies
The questions of the rarity of the 4.8 GHz formaldehyde masers and the non-detection of 14.5 GHz formaldehyde masers are addressed from a theoretical point of view. The pumping free-free radiation fields were obtained using the photo-ionization code Cloudy to simulate hyper-compact HII regions. Implementation of these free-free radiation fields in solving the rate equations shows that the free-free radiation fields of some hyper-compact HII regions are ineffective to invert the 4.8 GHz transition. Investigation of the variation of the inversion of the 4.8 GHz and 14.5 GHz transitions with radial distance revealed that there are regions where only the 4.8 GHz transition is inverted. It is also shown that the projection of the masing region toward the edge of a hyper-compact may explain the non-detection of 14.5 GHz masers. The attenuation of the 4.8 GHz and 14.5 GHz masers in the molecular envelope is investigated. It is found that attenuation can be significant. Comparison of the velocities of the 4.8 GHz masers with the centre velocities of associated 4.8 GHz absorption features shows that the maser emission lies at the edge of the absorption features. This suggests that the masers may be associated with kinematic structures such as rotating toroids.
title Notes on the formaldehyde masers
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.14490