Astrophysical maser
Encyclopedia
An astrophysical maser is a naturally occurring source of stimulated
spectral line
emission, typically in the microwave
portion of the electromagnetic spectrum
. This emission may arise in molecular cloud
s, comet
s, planet
ary atmosphere
s, stellar atmosphere
s, or from various conditions in interstellar space
.
, the emission from a maser
is stimulated
(or seeded) and monochromatic, having the frequency
corresponding
to the energy
difference between two quantum-mechanical
energy levels of the species in the gain medium which have been pumped
into a non-thermal
population distribution
. However, naturally occurring masers lack the resonant
cavity engineered for terrestrial laboratory masers. Indeed, the emission from an astrophysical maser is due to a single pass through the gain medium and therefore generally lacks the spatial coherence
and mode
purity expected of laboratory instruments.
This fundamental incongruency in language has resulted in the use of other paradoxical definitions in the field. For example, if the gain medium of a (misaligned) laser is emission-seeded but non-oscillating radiation, it is said to emit amplified spontaneous emission
or ASE. This ASE is regarded as unwanted or parasitic (some researchers would add to this definition the presence of insufficient feedback
or unmet lasing threshold
): that is, the users wish the system to behave as a loser. The emission from astrophysical masers is, in fact, ASE but is sometimes termed superradiant emission to differentiate it from the laboratory phenomenon. This is more unneeded confusion since both sources are superradiant. (Note that in some laboratory lasers, such as a single pass through a regeneratively
amplified Ti:Sapph
stage, the physics is directly analogous to an amplified ray in an astrophysical maser.)
Furthermore, the practical limits of the use of the m to stand for microwave in maser are variously employed. For example, when lasers were initially developed in the visible portion of the spectrum they were called optical masers. Townes advocated that the m stand for molecule since energy states of molecules generally provide the masing transition. Along these lines, some will use the term laser to describe any system which exploits an electronic transition and the term maser to describe a system which exploits a rotational
or vibrational transition, regardless of the output frequency. Some astrophysicists use the term iraser to describe a maser emitting at a wavelength
of a few micrometre
s, even though the optics
community has similar sources which they call lasers. The term taser has been used to describe laboratory masers in the terahertz regime although astronomer
s might call these sub-millimeter masers and laboratory physicist
s generally call these gas lasers or specifically alcohol
lasers in reference to the gain species. The electrical engineering
community typically limits the use of the word microwave for frequencies roughly between 1 GHz
and 300 GHz.
in the gain medium. Finally, the radiation from astrophysical masers can be quite weak and may escape detection due to the limited sensitivity (and relative remoteness) of astronomical observatories and due to the sometimes overwhelming spectral absorption from unpumped molecules of the maser species in the surrounding space. This latter obstacle may be partially surmounted through the judicious use of the spatial filtering inherent in interferometric
techniques, especially very long baseline interferometry
(VLBI).
The major use of maser study is that they give valuable information on the conditions in space, such as temperature, number density, magnetic field, and velocity, in the most interesting of environments — including stellar birth and death, and the centres of galaxies containing black hole
s. The conditions involved in these events still need more accurate measuring so that theoretical models can be refined or revised.
Masers were then discovered around highly-evolved Late type stars
; First was OH emission in 1968, then H2O emission in 1969 and SiO emission in 1974. Masers were also discovered in external galaxies in 1973, and in our own solar system in comet halos.
Another unexpected discovery was made in 1982 with the discovery of emission from an extra-galactic source with an unrivalled luminosity about 106 times larger than any previous source. This was termed a megamaser
because of its great luminosity; many more megamasers have since been discovered.
Evidence for an anti-pumped (dasar
) sub-thermal population in the 4830 MHz transition of formaldehyde (H2CO) was observed in 1969 by Palmer et al.
-coherent path length, any variation of either will itself result in exponential change of the maser output.
, etc.) more than the edges or wings. This results in an emission line shape that is much taller but not much wider. This makes the line appear narrower relative to the unamplified line.
of a maser is the temperature a black body
would have if producing the same emission brightness at the wavelength of the maser. That is, if an object had a temperature of about 109K
it would produce as much 1665-MHz radiation as a strong interstellar OH maser. Of course, at 109K the OH molecule would dissociate (kT
is greater than the bond
energy), so the brightness temperature is not directly indicative of the kinetic temperature
of the maser gas but is nevertheless useful in describing maser emission. Masers have huge effective temperatures, many around 109K, but some of up to 1012K and even 1014K.
, and to a lesser degree in a linear fashion
. This polarisation is due to some combination of the Zeeman effect
, magnetic beaming of the maser radiation, and anisotropic pumping which favours certain magnetic-state
transitions.
It should be noted that many of the characteristics of megamaser
emission are different.
s are small bodies (5–15 km diameter) of frozen volatiles (H2O, CO2, NH3, CH4) embedded in a crusty silicate filler. They orbit the sun in eccentric orbits and as they approach the sun the volatiles vaporise to form a halo, and later a tail, around the nucleus. Once vaporised these molecules can form inversions and mase.
The impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
with Jupiter
in 1994 resulted in maser emissions in the 22 GHz region from the water molecule. Despite the apparent rarity of these events, observation of the intense maser emission has been suggested as a detection scheme for extrasolar planets.
Ultraviolet light from the sun breaks down some H2O molecules forming OH molecules that can mase. In 1997, 1667-MHz maser emission from the OH molecule was observed from comet Hale-Bopp.
s (AU), water masers at a distance of about 100 to 400 AU, and silicon monoxide masers at a distance of about 5 to 10 AU.
s and giant molecular clouds
, support the bulk of astrophysical masers. Various pumping schemes - both radiative and collisional and combinations thereof - result in the maser emission of multiple transitions of many species. For example, the OH molecule has been observed to mase at 1612, 1665, 1667, 1720, 4660, 4750, 4765, 6031, 6035, and 13441 MHz. Water and methanol
masers are also typical of these environments. Relatively rare masers such as ammonia
and formaldehyde
may also be found in star-forming regions.
), masers observed from distant galaxies generally arise in wholly different conditions. Some galaxies possess central black hole
s into which a disk of molecular material (about 0.5 parsec
in size) is falling. Excitations of these molecules in the disk or in a jet
can result in megamaser
s with large luminosities. Hydroxyl, water, and formaldehyde masers are known to exist in these conditions.
and laboratory astrophysics due, in part, to the fact that they are valuable diagnostic tools for astrophysical environments which may otherwise elude rigorous quantitative study and because they may facilitate the study of conditions which are inaccessible in terrestrial laboratories.
Also, water masers have been used to estimate the distance and proper motion
of galaxies in the Local Group
, including that of the Triangulum Galaxy
.
VLBI
observations of maser sources in late type stars and star forming regions provide determinations of their trigonometric parallax and therefore their distance. This method is much more accurate than other distance determinations, and gives us information about the galactic distance scale (e.g. the distance of spiral arms).
On the other hand, some masers have been predicted to occur theoretically but have yet to be observed in nature. For example, the magnetic dipole
transitions of the OH molecule near 53 MHz are expected to occur but have yet to be observed, perhaps due to a lack of sensitive equipment.
Stimulated emission
In optics, stimulated emission is the process by which an atomic electron interacting with an electromagnetic wave of a certain frequency may drop to a lower energy level, transferring its energy to that field. A photon created in this manner has the same phase, frequency, polarization, and...
spectral line
Spectral line
A spectral line is a dark or bright line in an otherwise uniform and continuous spectrum, resulting from a deficiency or excess of photons in a narrow frequency range, compared with the nearby frequencies.- Types of line spectra :...
emission, typically in the microwave
Microwave
Microwaves, a subset of radio waves, have wavelengths ranging from as long as one meter to as short as one millimeter, or equivalently, with frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz. This broad definition includes both UHF and EHF , and various sources use different boundaries...
portion of the electromagnetic spectrum
Electromagnetic spectrum
The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of all possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation. The "electromagnetic spectrum" of an object is the characteristic distribution of electromagnetic radiation emitted or absorbed by that particular object....
. This emission may arise in molecular cloud
Molecular cloud
A molecular cloud, sometimes called a stellar nursery if star formation is occurring within, is a type of interstellar cloud whose density and size permits the formation of molecules, most commonly molecular hydrogen ....
s, comet
Comet
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...
s, planet
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
ary atmosphere
Atmosphere
An atmosphere is a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass, and that is held in place by the gravity of the body. An atmosphere may be retained for a longer duration, if the gravity is high and the atmosphere's temperature is low...
s, stellar atmosphere
Stellar atmosphere
The stellar atmosphere is the outer region of the volume of a star, lying above the stellar core, radiation zone and convection zone. It is divided into several regions of distinct character:...
s, or from various conditions in interstellar space
Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
.
Discrete Transition Energy
Like a laserLaser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
, the emission from a maser
Maser
A maser is a device that produces coherent electromagnetic waves through amplification by stimulated emission. Historically, “maser” derives from the original, upper-case acronym MASER, which stands for "Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation"...
is stimulated
Stimulated emission
In optics, stimulated emission is the process by which an atomic electron interacting with an electromagnetic wave of a certain frequency may drop to a lower energy level, transferring its energy to that field. A photon created in this manner has the same phase, frequency, polarization, and...
(or seeded) and monochromatic, having the frequency
Frequency
Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It is also referred to as temporal frequency.The period is the duration of one cycle in a repeating event, so the period is the reciprocal of the frequency...
corresponding
Max Planck
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck, ForMemRS, was a German physicist who actualized the quantum physics, initiating a revolution in natural science and philosophy. He is regarded as the founder of the quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.-Life and career:Planck came...
to the energy
Energy
In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
difference between two quantum-mechanical
Quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics, also known as quantum physics or quantum theory, is a branch of physics providing a mathematical description of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior and interactions of energy and matter. It departs from classical mechanics primarily at the atomic and subatomic...
energy levels of the species in the gain medium which have been pumped
Laser pumping
Laser pumping is the act of energy transfer from an external source into the gain medium of a laser. The energy is absorbed in the medium, producing excited states in its atoms. When the number of particles in one excited state exceeds the number of particles in the ground state or a less-excited...
into a non-thermal
Statistical mechanics
Statistical mechanics or statistical thermodynamicsThe terms statistical mechanics and statistical thermodynamics are used interchangeably...
population distribution
Population inversion
In physics, specifically statistical mechanics, a population inversion occurs when a system exists in state with more members in an excited state than in lower energy states...
. However, naturally occurring masers lack the resonant
Resonance
In physics, resonance is the tendency of a system to oscillate at a greater amplitude at some frequencies than at others. These are known as the system's resonant frequencies...
cavity engineered for terrestrial laboratory masers. Indeed, the emission from an astrophysical maser is due to a single pass through the gain medium and therefore generally lacks the spatial coherence
Coherence (physics)
In physics, coherence is a property of waves that enables stationary interference. More generally, coherence describes all properties of the correlation between physical quantities of a wave....
and mode
Normal mode
A normal mode of an oscillating system is a pattern of motion in which all parts of the system move sinusoidally with the same frequency and with a fixed phase relation. The frequencies of the normal modes of a system are known as its natural frequencies or resonant frequencies...
purity expected of laboratory instruments.
Nomenclature
Due to the differences between engineered and naturally occurring masers, it is often stated that astrophysical masers are not "true" masers because they lack an oscillation cavity. The distinction between oscillator-based losers and single-pass lasers was intentionally disregarded by the laser community in the early years of the technology.This fundamental incongruency in language has resulted in the use of other paradoxical definitions in the field. For example, if the gain medium of a (misaligned) laser is emission-seeded but non-oscillating radiation, it is said to emit amplified spontaneous emission
Amplified spontaneous emission
Amplified spontaneous emission or superluminescence is light, produced by spontaneous emission, that has been optically amplified by the process of stimulated emission in a gain medium. It is inherent in the field of random lasers....
or ASE. This ASE is regarded as unwanted or parasitic (some researchers would add to this definition the presence of insufficient feedback
Feedback
Feedback describes the situation when output from an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or occurrences of the same Feedback describes the situation when output from (or information about the result of) an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or...
or unmet lasing threshold
Lasing threshold
The lasing threshold is the lowest excitation level at which a laser's output is dominated by stimulated emission rather than by spontaneous emission. Below the threshold, the laser's output power rises slowly with increasing excitation. Above threshold, the slope of power vs. excitation is orders...
): that is, the users wish the system to behave as a loser. The emission from astrophysical masers is, in fact, ASE but is sometimes termed superradiant emission to differentiate it from the laboratory phenomenon. This is more unneeded confusion since both sources are superradiant. (Note that in some laboratory lasers, such as a single pass through a regeneratively
Regenerative circuit
The regenerative circuit or "autodyne" allows an electronic signal to be amplified many times by the same vacuum tube or other active component such as a field effect transistor. It consists of an amplifying vacuum tube or transistor with its output connected to its input through a feedback...
amplified Ti:Sapph
Ti-sapphire laser
Ti:sapphire lasers are tunable lasers which emit red and near-infrared light in the range from 650 to 1100 nanometers. These lasers are mainly used in scientific research because of their tunability and their ability to generate ultrashort pulses...
stage, the physics is directly analogous to an amplified ray in an astrophysical maser.)
Furthermore, the practical limits of the use of the m to stand for microwave in maser are variously employed. For example, when lasers were initially developed in the visible portion of the spectrum they were called optical masers. Townes advocated that the m stand for molecule since energy states of molecules generally provide the masing transition. Along these lines, some will use the term laser to describe any system which exploits an electronic transition and the term maser to describe a system which exploits a rotational
Rotational transition
A rotational transition is an abrupt change in angular momentum in quantum physics. Like all other properties of a quantum particle, angular momentum is quantized, meaning it can only equal certain discrete values, which correspond to different rotational energy states. When a particle loses...
or vibrational transition, regardless of the output frequency. Some astrophysicists use the term iraser to describe a maser emitting at a wavelength
Wavelength
In physics, the wavelength of a sinusoidal wave is the spatial period of the wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats.It is usually determined by considering the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase, such as crests, troughs, or zero crossings, and is a...
of a few micrometre
Micrometre
A micrometer , is by definition 1×10-6 of a meter .In plain English, it means one-millionth of a meter . Its unit symbol in the International System of Units is μm...
s, even though the optics
Optics
Optics is the branch of physics which involves the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behavior of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light...
community has similar sources which they call lasers. The term taser has been used to describe laboratory masers in the terahertz regime although astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
s might call these sub-millimeter masers and laboratory physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
s generally call these gas lasers or specifically alcohol
Ethanol
Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs. Best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, it is also used in thermometers, as a...
lasers in reference to the gain species. The electrical engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
community typically limits the use of the word microwave for frequencies roughly between 1 GHz
GHZ
GHZ or GHz may refer to:# Gigahertz .# Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state — a quantum entanglement of three particles.# Galactic Habitable Zone — the region of a galaxy that is favorable to the formation of life....
and 300 GHz.
Astrophysical conditions
The simple existence of a pumped population inversion is not sufficient for the observation of a maser. For example, there must be velocity coherence along the line of sight so that Doppler shifting does not prevent inverted states in different parts of the gain medium from radiatively coupling. Also, while polarisation in laboratory lasers and masers may be achieved by selectively oscillating the desired modes, polarisation in natural masers will only arise in the presence of a polarisation-state dependent pump or of a magnetic fieldMagnetic field
A magnetic field is a mathematical description of the magnetic influence of electric currents and magnetic materials. The magnetic field at any given point is specified by both a direction and a magnitude ; as such it is a vector field.Technically, a magnetic field is a pseudo vector;...
in the gain medium. Finally, the radiation from astrophysical masers can be quite weak and may escape detection due to the limited sensitivity (and relative remoteness) of astronomical observatories and due to the sometimes overwhelming spectral absorption from unpumped molecules of the maser species in the surrounding space. This latter obstacle may be partially surmounted through the judicious use of the spatial filtering inherent in interferometric
Interferometry
Interferometry refers to a family of techniques in which electromagnetic waves are superimposed in order to extract information about the waves. An instrument used to interfere waves is called an interferometer. Interferometry is an important investigative technique in the fields of astronomy,...
techniques, especially very long baseline interferometry
Very Long Baseline Interferometry
Very Long Baseline Interferometry is a type of astronomical interferometry used in radio astronomy. It allows observations of an object that are made simultaneously by many telescopes to be combined, emulating a telescope with a size equal to the maximum separation between the telescopes.Data...
(VLBI).
The major use of maser study is that they give valuable information on the conditions in space, such as temperature, number density, magnetic field, and velocity, in the most interesting of environments — including stellar birth and death, and the centres of galaxies containing black hole
Black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
s. The conditions involved in these events still need more accurate measuring so that theoretical models can be refined or revised.
Historical background
In 1965 an unexpected discovery was made by Weaver et al.: emission lines in space, of unknown origin, at a frequency of 1665 MHz. At this time many people still thought that molecules could not exist in space, and so the emission was at first attributed to an unknown interstellar species named Mysterium, but the emission was soon identified as line emission from OH molecules in compact sources within molecular clouds. More discoveries followed, with H2O emission in 1969, CH3OH emission in 1970 and SiO emission in 1974, all coming from within molecular clouds. These were termed "masers", as from their narrow line-widths and high effective temperatures it became clear that these sources were amplifying microwave radiation.Masers were then discovered around highly-evolved Late type stars
Stellar evolution
Stellar evolution is the process by which a star undergoes a sequence of radical changes during its lifetime. Depending on the mass of the star, this lifetime ranges from only a few million years to trillions of years .Stellar evolution is not studied by observing the life of a single...
; First was OH emission in 1968, then H2O emission in 1969 and SiO emission in 1974. Masers were also discovered in external galaxies in 1973, and in our own solar system in comet halos.
Another unexpected discovery was made in 1982 with the discovery of emission from an extra-galactic source with an unrivalled luminosity about 106 times larger than any previous source. This was termed a megamaser
Megamaser
A megamaser is a type of astrophysical maser, which is a naturally occurring source of stimulated spectral line emission. Megamasers are distinguished from astrophysical masers by their large isotropic luminosity. Megamasers produce roughly 103 times the solar luminosity , which is 100 million...
because of its great luminosity; many more megamasers have since been discovered.
Evidence for an anti-pumped (dasar
Dasar
Dasar is an acronym for Darkness Amplification by Stimulated Absorption of Radiation.It is a little-used expression describing the anomalous interstellar formaldehyde absorption discovered by Palmer et al. in 1969....
) sub-thermal population in the 4830 MHz transition of formaldehyde (H2CO) was observed in 1969 by Palmer et al.
Detection
The connections of maser activity with far Infra-red (FIR) emission has been used to conduct searches of the sky with optical telescopes (because optical telescopes are easier to use for searches of this kind), and likely objects are then checked in the radio spectrum. Particularly targeted are molecular clouds, OH-IR stars, and FIR active galaxies.Known Interstellar Species
The following species have been observed in stimulated emission from astronomical environments:- OH
- CH
- H2CO
- H2O
- NH3, 15NH3
- CH3OH
- SiS
- HC3N
- SiO, 29SiO, 30SiO
- HCN, H13CN
- H
Characteristics of Maser Radiation
The amplification or gain of radiation passing through a maser cloud is exponential. This has consequences for the radiation they produce:Beaming
Small path differences across the irregularly shaped maser cloud become greatly distorted by exponential gain. Part of the cloud that has a slightly longer path length than the rest will appear much brighter (as it is the exponent of the path length that is relevant), and so maser spots are typically much smaller than their parent clouds. The majority of the radiation will emerge along this line of greatest path length in a "beam"; this is termed beaming.Rapid variability
As the gain of a maser depends exponentially on the population inversion and the velocityVelocity
In physics, velocity is speed in a given direction. Speed describes only how fast an object is moving, whereas velocity gives both the speed and direction of the object's motion. To have a constant velocity, an object must have a constant speed and motion in a constant direction. Constant ...
-coherent path length, any variation of either will itself result in exponential change of the maser output.
Line narrowing
Exponential gain also amplifies the centre of the line shape (Gaussian or LorentzianCauchy distribution
The Cauchy–Lorentz distribution, named after Augustin Cauchy and Hendrik Lorentz, is a continuous probability distribution. As a probability distribution, it is known as the Cauchy distribution, while among physicists, it is known as the Lorentz distribution, Lorentz function, or Breit–Wigner...
, etc.) more than the edges or wings. This results in an emission line shape that is much taller but not much wider. This makes the line appear narrower relative to the unamplified line.
Saturation
The exponential growth in intensity of radiation passing through a maser cloud continues as long as pumping processes can maintain the population inversion against the growing losses by stimulated emission. While this is so the maser is said to be unsaturated. However, after a point, the population inversion cannot be maintained any longer and the maser becomes saturated. In a saturated maser, amplification of radiation depends linearly on the size of population inversion and the path length. Saturation of one transition in a maser can affect the degree of inversion in other transitions in the same maser, an effect known as competitive gain.High brightness
The brightness temperatureBrightness temperature
Brightness temperature is the temperature a black body in thermal equilibrium with its surroundings would have to be to duplicate the observed intensity of a grey body object at a frequency \nu....
of a maser is the temperature a black body
Black body
A black body is an idealized physical body that absorbs all incident electromagnetic radiation. Because of this perfect absorptivity at all wavelengths, a black body is also the best possible emitter of thermal radiation, which it radiates incandescently in a characteristic, continuous spectrum...
would have if producing the same emission brightness at the wavelength of the maser. That is, if an object had a temperature of about 109K
Kelvin
The kelvin is a unit of measurement for temperature. It is one of the seven base units in the International System of Units and is assigned the unit symbol K. The Kelvin scale is an absolute, thermodynamic temperature scale using as its null point absolute zero, the temperature at which all...
it would produce as much 1665-MHz radiation as a strong interstellar OH maser. Of course, at 109K the OH molecule would dissociate (kT
KT (energy)
kT is the product of the Boltzmann constant, k, and the temperature, T. This product is used in physics as a scaling factor for energy values in molecular-scale systems , as the rates and frequencies of many processes and phenomena depend not on their energy alone, but on the ratio of that energy...
is greater than the bond
Covalent bond
A covalent bond is a form of chemical bonding that is characterized by the sharing of pairs of electrons between atoms. The stable balance of attractive and repulsive forces between atoms when they share electrons is known as covalent bonding....
energy), so the brightness temperature is not directly indicative of the kinetic temperature
Temperature
Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
of the maser gas but is nevertheless useful in describing maser emission. Masers have huge effective temperatures, many around 109K, but some of up to 1012K and even 1014K.
Polarisation
An important aspect of maser study is polarisation of the emission. Astronomical masers are often very highly polarised, sometimes 100% (in the case of some OH masers) in a circular fashionCircular polarization
In electrodynamics, circular polarization of an electromagnetic wave is a polarization in which the electric field of the passing wave does not change strength but only changes direction in a rotary type manner....
, and to a lesser degree in a linear fashion
Linear polarization
In electrodynamics, linear polarization or plane polarization of electromagnetic radiation is a confinement of the electric field vector or magnetic field vector to a given plane along the direction of propagation...
. This polarisation is due to some combination of the Zeeman effect
Zeeman effect
The Zeeman effect is the splitting of a spectral line into several components in the presence of a static magnetic field. It is analogous to the Stark effect, the splitting of a spectral line into several components in the presence of an electric field...
, magnetic beaming of the maser radiation, and anisotropic pumping which favours certain magnetic-state
Magnetic quantum number
In atomic physics, the magnetic quantum number is the third of a set of quantum numbers which describe the unique quantum state of an electron and is designated by the letter m...
transitions.
It should be noted that many of the characteristics of megamaser
Megamaser
A megamaser is a type of astrophysical maser, which is a naturally occurring source of stimulated spectral line emission. Megamasers are distinguished from astrophysical masers by their large isotropic luminosity. Megamasers produce roughly 103 times the solar luminosity , which is 100 million...
emission are different.
Comets
CometComet
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...
s are small bodies (5–15 km diameter) of frozen volatiles (H2O, CO2, NH3, CH4) embedded in a crusty silicate filler. They orbit the sun in eccentric orbits and as they approach the sun the volatiles vaporise to form a halo, and later a tail, around the nucleus. Once vaporised these molecules can form inversions and mase.
The impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 was a comet that broke apart and collided with Jupiter in July 1994, providing the first direct observation of an extraterrestrial collision of solar system objects. This generated a large amount of coverage in the popular media, and the comet was closely observed by...
with Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
in 1994 resulted in maser emissions in the 22 GHz region from the water molecule. Despite the apparent rarity of these events, observation of the intense maser emission has been suggested as a detection scheme for extrasolar planets.
Ultraviolet light from the sun breaks down some H2O molecules forming OH molecules that can mase. In 1997, 1667-MHz maser emission from the OH molecule was observed from comet Hale-Bopp.
Planetary Atmospheres
It is predicted that masers exist in the atmospheres of gas giant planets, e.g. http://www.atnf.csiro.au/news/newsletter/jun03/3and12mm_masers.htm. Such masers would be highly variable due to planetary rotation (10-hour period for Jovian planets).Planetary Systems
In 2009, S. V. Pogrebenko et al. reported http://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/2009/05/aa11186-08.pdf the detection of water masers in the plumes of water associated with the Saturnian moons Hyperion, Titan, Enceladus, and Atlas.Stellar atmospheres
The conditions in the atmospheres of late-type stars support the pumping of different maser species at different distances from the star. Hydroxyl masers occur at a distance of about 1000 to 10000 astronomical unitAstronomical unit
An astronomical unit is a unit of length equal to about or approximately the mean Earth–Sun distance....
s (AU), water masers at a distance of about 100 to 400 AU, and silicon monoxide masers at a distance of about 5 to 10 AU.
Star-forming regions
Star-forming regions, in the form of molecular cloudMolecular cloud
A molecular cloud, sometimes called a stellar nursery if star formation is occurring within, is a type of interstellar cloud whose density and size permits the formation of molecules, most commonly molecular hydrogen ....
s and giant molecular clouds
Dark nebula
A dark nebula is a type of interstellar cloud that is so dense that it obscures the light from the background emission or reflection nebula or that it blocks out background stars . The extinction of the light is caused by interstellar dust grains located in the coldest, densest parts of larger...
, support the bulk of astrophysical masers. Various pumping schemes - both radiative and collisional and combinations thereof - result in the maser emission of multiple transitions of many species. For example, the OH molecule has been observed to mase at 1612, 1665, 1667, 1720, 4660, 4750, 4765, 6031, 6035, and 13441 MHz. Water and methanol
Methanol
Methanol, also known as methyl alcohol, wood alcohol, wood naphtha or wood spirits, is a chemical with the formula CH3OH . It is the simplest alcohol, and is a light, volatile, colorless, flammable liquid with a distinctive odor very similar to, but slightly sweeter than, ethanol...
masers are also typical of these environments. Relatively rare masers such as ammonia
Ammonia
Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . It is a colourless gas with a characteristic pungent odour. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to food and fertilizers. Ammonia, either directly or...
and formaldehyde
Formaldehyde
Formaldehyde is an organic compound with the formula CH2O. It is the simplest aldehyde, hence its systematic name methanal.Formaldehyde is a colorless gas with a characteristic pungent odor. It is an important precursor to many other chemical compounds, especially for polymers...
may also be found in star-forming regions.
Supernova remnants
The 1720 MHz maser transition of the OH molecule is known to be associated with supernova remnants that interact with molecular clouds.Extragalactic sources
While some of the masers in star forming regions can achieve luminosities sufficient for detection from external galaxies (such as the nearby Magellanic CloudsMagellanic Clouds
The two Magellanic Clouds are irregular dwarf galaxies visible in the southern hemisphere, which are members of our Local Group and are orbiting our Milky Way galaxy...
), masers observed from distant galaxies generally arise in wholly different conditions. Some galaxies possess central black hole
Black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
s into which a disk of molecular material (about 0.5 parsec
Parsec
The parsec is a unit of length used in astronomy. It is about 3.26 light-years, or just under 31 trillion kilometres ....
in size) is falling. Excitations of these molecules in the disk or in a jet
Relativistic jet
Relativistic jets are extremely powerful jets of plasma which emerge from presumed massive objects at the centers of some active galaxies, notably radio galaxies and quasars. Their lengths can reach several thousand or even hundreds of thousands of light years...
can result in megamaser
Megamaser
A megamaser is a type of astrophysical maser, which is a naturally occurring source of stimulated spectral line emission. Megamasers are distinguished from astrophysical masers by their large isotropic luminosity. Megamasers produce roughly 103 times the solar luminosity , which is 100 million...
s with large luminosities. Hydroxyl, water, and formaldehyde masers are known to exist in these conditions.
Ongoing research
Astronomical masers remain an active field of research in radio astronomyRadio astronomy
Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies celestial objects at radio frequencies. The initial detection of radio waves from an astronomical object was made in the 1930s, when Karl Jansky observed radiation coming from the Milky Way. Subsequent observations have identified a number of...
and laboratory astrophysics due, in part, to the fact that they are valuable diagnostic tools for astrophysical environments which may otherwise elude rigorous quantitative study and because they may facilitate the study of conditions which are inaccessible in terrestrial laboratories.
Variability
Maser variability is generally understood to mean the change in apparent brightness to the observer. Intensity variations can occur on timescales from days to years indicating limits on maser size and excitation scheme. However, masers change in various ways over various timescales.Distance determinations
Masers in star-forming regions are known to move across the sky along with the material that is flowing out from the forming star(s). Also, since the emission is a narrow spectral line, line-of-sight velocity can be determined from the Doppler shift variation of the observed frequency of the maser, permitting a three-dimensional mapping of the dynamics of the maser environment. Perhaps the most spectacular success of this technique is the dynamical determination of the distance to the galaxy NGC 4258 from the analysis of the motion of the masers in the black-hole disk.Also, water masers have been used to estimate the distance and proper motion
Proper motion
The proper motion of a star is its angular change in position over time as seen from the center of mass of the solar system. It is measured in seconds of arc per year, arcsec/yr, where 3600 arcseconds equal one degree. This contrasts with radial velocity, which is the time rate of change in...
of galaxies in the Local Group
Local Group
The Local Group is the group of galaxies that includes Earth's galaxy, the Milky Way. The group comprises more than 30 galaxies , with its gravitational center located somewhere between the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy...
, including that of the Triangulum Galaxy
Triangulum Galaxy
The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 3 million light years from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. It is catalogued as Messier 33 or NGC 598, and is sometimes informally referred to as the Pinwheel Galaxy, a nickname it shares with Messier 101...
.
VLBI
Very Long Baseline Interferometry
Very Long Baseline Interferometry is a type of astronomical interferometry used in radio astronomy. It allows observations of an object that are made simultaneously by many telescopes to be combined, emulating a telescope with a size equal to the maximum separation between the telescopes.Data...
observations of maser sources in late type stars and star forming regions provide determinations of their trigonometric parallax and therefore their distance. This method is much more accurate than other distance determinations, and gives us information about the galactic distance scale (e.g. the distance of spiral arms).
Open issues
Unlike terrestrial lasers and masers for which the excitation mechanism is known and engineered, the reverse is true for astrophysical masers. In general, astrophysical masers are discovered empirically then studied further in order to develop plausible suggestions about possible pumping schemes. Quantification of the transverse size, spatial and temporal variations, and polarisation state (typically requiring VLBI telemetry) are all useful in the development of a pump theory. Galactic formaldehyde masing is one such example that remains problematic.On the other hand, some masers have been predicted to occur theoretically but have yet to be observed in nature. For example, the magnetic dipole
Magnetic dipole
A magnetic dipole is the limit of either a closed loop of electric current or a pair of poles as the dimensions of the source are reduced to zero while keeping the magnetic moment constant. It is a magnetic analogue of the electric dipole, but the analogy is not complete. In particular, a magnetic...
transitions of the OH molecule near 53 MHz are expected to occur but have yet to be observed, perhaps due to a lack of sensitive equipment.