WATER MASERS IN THE ANDROMEDA GALAXY. I. A SURVEY FOR WATER MASERS, AMMONIA, AND HYDROGEN RECOMBINATION LINES

We report the results of a Green Bank Telescope survey for water masers, ammonia (1, 1) and (2, 2), and the H66α recombination line toward 506 luminous compact 24 μm emitting regions in the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). We include the 206 sources observed in the Darling water maser survey for completeness. The survey was sensitive enough to detect any maser useful for ∼10 μas yr−1 astrometry. No new water masers, ammonia lines, or H66α recombination lines were detected individually or in spectral stacks reaching rms noise levels of ∼3 mJy and ∼0.2 mJy, respectively, in 3.1–3.3 km s−1 channels. The lack of detections in individual spectra and in the spectral stacks is consistent with Galactic extrapolations. Contrary to previous assertions, there do not seem to be any additional bright water masers to be found in M31. The strong variability of water masers may enable new maser detections in the future, but variability may also limit the astrometric utility of known (or future) masers because flaring masers must also fade.

[1]  A. Loeb,et al.  SIGNATURES OF THE M31–M32 GALACTIC COLLISION , 2014, 1405.3990.

[2]  K. Menten,et al.  AMMONIA THERMOMETRY OF STAR-FORMING GALAXIES , 2013, 1310.6586.

[3]  J. Darling.  OBJECTS APPEAR SMALLER AS THEY RECEDE: HOW PROPER MOTIONS CAN DIRECTLY REVEAL THE COSMIC EXPANSION, PROVIDE GEOMETRIC DISTANCES, AND MEASURE THE HUBBLE CONSTANT , 2013, 1310.0500.

[4]  Christine D. Wilson,et al.  HERSCHEL EXPLOITATION OF LOCAL GALAXY ANDROMEDA (HELGA). III. THE STAR FORMATION LAW IN M31 , 2013, 1303.6284.

[5]  G. Vaucouleurs,et al.  Third Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies , 2012 .

[6]  Jay Anderson,et al.  THE M31 VELOCITY VECTOR. III. FUTURE MILKY WAY M31–M33 ORBITAL EVOLUTION, MERGING, AND FATE OF THE SUN , 2012, 1205.6865.

[7]  R. Beaton,et al.  THE M31 VELOCITY VECTOR. II. RADIAL ORBIT TOWARD THE MILKY WAY AND IMPLIED LOCAL GROUP MASS , 2012, 1205.6864.

[8]  Jay Anderson,et al.  THE M31 VELOCITY VECTOR. I. HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE PROPER-MOTION MEASUREMENTS , 2012, 1205.6863.

[9]  L. Chomiuk,et al.  TOWARD A UNIFICATION OF STAR FORMATION RATE DETERMINATIONS IN THE MILKY WAY AND OTHER GALAXIES , 2011, 1110.4105.

[10]  A. Weiss,et al.  AMMONIA AS A TEMPERATURE TRACER IN THE ULTRALUMINOUS GALAXY MERGER Arp 220 , 2011, 1108.3088.

[11]  E. Rosolowsky,et al.  THE BOLOCAM GALACTIC PLANE SURVEY. VII. CHARACTERIZING THE PROPERTIES OF MASSIVE STAR-FORMING REGIONS , 2011, 1108.1812.

[12]  Exeter,et al.  The RMS Survey: Ammonia and water maser analysis of massive star forming regions. ⋆ , 2011, 1107.3913.

[13]  J. Darling.  WATER MASERS IN THE ANDROMEDA GALAXY: THE FIRST STEP TOWARD PROPER MOTION , 2011, 1103.4788.

[14]  V. Fish,et al.  DISCOVERY OF THE FIRST METHANOL (CH3OH) MASER IN THE ANDROMEDA GALAXY (M31) , 2010, 1010.4818.

[15]  F. Tabatabaei,et al.  Relating dust, gas, and the rate of star formation in M 31 , 2010, 1004.4306.

[16]  C. Phillips,et al.  Water masers accompanying OH and methanol masers in star formation regions , 2010, 1004.1060.

[17]  R. Humphreys,et al.  A Point-Source Survey of M31 with the Spitzer Space Telescope , 2008, 0807.0941.

[18]  L. Hunt,et al.  Star formation in M 33: Spitzer photometry of discrete sources , 2007, 0709.2601.

[19]  H. Falcke,et al.  The proper motion of the Local Group galaxy IC 10 , 2006, astro-ph/0610774.

[20]  G. Fazio,et al.  An almost head-on collision as the origin of two off-centre rings in the Andromeda galaxy , 2006, Nature.

[21]  Mount Stromlo Observatory,et al.  Water masers in the Local Group of galaxies , 2006, astro-ph/0606558.

[22]  N. R. Napolitano,et al.  A deep kinematic survey of planetary nebulae in the Andromeda galaxy using the Planetary Nebula Spectrograph , 2006, astro-ph/0603125.

[23]  P. Hofner,et al.  Water Masers Toward Ultracompact H II Regions , 2005, astro-ph/0507039.

[24]  H. Falcke,et al.  Constraints on the Proper Motion of the Andromeda Galaxy Based on the Survival of Its Satellite M33 , 2005, astro-ph/0506609.

[25]  F. Walter,et al.  The Temperature Distribution of Dense Molecular Gas in the Center of NGC 253 , 2005, astro-ph/0505143.

[26]  A. Tarchi,et al.  New H2O masers in Seyfert and FIR bright galaxies , 2005, astro-ph/0503070.

[27]  H. Falcke,et al.  The Geometric Distance and Proper Motion of the Triangulum Galaxy (M33) , 2005, Science.

[28]  M. Irwin,et al.  Distances and metallicities for 17 Local Group galaxies , 2004, astro-ph/0410489.

[29]  A. Weiss,et al.  Dense gas in nearby galaxies XV. Hot ammonia in NGC 253, Maffei 2 and IC 342 , 2003, astro-ph/0303247.

[30]  K. Kawaguchi,et al.  Observations of Ammonia in External Galaxies I. NGC 253 and M 82 , 2002 .

[31]  H. Imai,et al.  Water Maser Survey in the Andromeda Galaxy , 2001 .

[32]  J. Stutzki,et al.  First Detection of Ammonia in M82 , 2001, astro-ph/0106305.

[33]  K. Kawaguchi,et al.  Observations of Ammonia in External Galaxies II. Maffei 2 , 2000, astro-ph/0010506.

[34]  P. Peebles,et al.  Radial and Transverse Velocities of Nearby Galaxies , 2000, astro-ph/0010480.

[35]  K. Menten,et al.  First images of water vapor masers in the galaxy M33 , 1990 .

[36]  D. Jaffe,et al.  New H/sub 2/O masers associated with far-infrared sources , 1981 .

[37]  T. Woodruff,et al.  Microwave Water Vapor Emmision from Galactic Sources , 1973 .

[38]  ApJ Letters, in press Preprint typeset using L ATEX style emulateapj v. 6/22/04 SPITZER/MIPS INFRARED IMAGING OF M31: FURTHER EVIDENCE FOR A SPIRAL/RING COMPOSITE STRUCTURE , 2006 .

[39]  (DOI: will be inserted by hand later) Molecular gas in the Andromeda galaxy , 2003 .

[40]  P. Mezger,et al.  GALACTIC H II REGIONS. II. OBSERVATIONS OF THEIR HYDROGEN 109$alpha$ RECOMBINATION-LINE RADIATION AT THE FREQUENCY 5009 MHz. , 1967 .

[41]  N. H. Dieter.  OBSERVATIONS OF THE HYDROGEN RECOMBINATION LINE 158 $alpha$ IN GALACTIC H II REGIONS. , 1967 .

[42]  G. Vaucouleurs,et al.  Reference catalogue of bright galaxies , 1964 .