Insights from the stability of methanol maser flare properties I: G9.62+0.20E
Abstract
The brightest 6.7 GHz methanol maser in the Galaxy is associated with the high-mass star-forming region (HMSFR) G009.62+0.20E. Additionally, this methanol maser shows periodic flaring observed at 6.7 and 12.2 GHz. Several models have been hypothesized to explain the periodicity, including periodic accretion, spiral shocks in the gaps of circumbinary disks, pulsating stars, dicke's superradiance, and a colliding wind binary (CWB) system. We analyzed the time series of the 1.22 km s-1 feature of the 6.7 GHz methanol maser spectrum and the 1.25 km s-1 feature of the 12.2 GHz methanol maser spectrum over the monitoring duration of roughly 20 years, to determine an updated period, analyze the stability and repeatability of the flares, the temporal behavior of the flare profile, and the duty cycle of the flare profile based on the updated period. From these results, it is argued for or against any of the mechanisms that have been proposed to explain the periodicity. Lomb-Scargle (LS) and phase dispersion minimization (PDM) methods were used to determine the methanol maser period at 6.7 and 12.2 GHz. Once the period has been determined, phase-folding or period-folding was used to analyze the flare shape, flare stability, and duty cycle of the flares. The periods of the 6.7 and 12.2 GHz methanol masers were determined to be ~ 243.0 +- 0.3 days. The flares are highly repeatable, stable, and show almost identical shapes, as well as their duty cycles. A replicated kernel density estimator (KDE) of the flare shape reproduces the time series very well over a time span of ~ 8000 days. After careful consideration of the proposed mechanisms for periodic methanol masers, we conclude that all but one, the CWB model, have been ruled out as a possible driver of this flare profile. It has also been established that the CWB model can qualitatively explain the flare profile of the periodic methanol masers.
Related
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BibTeX
@misc{heever2026insights,
title = {{Insights from the stability of methanol maser flare properties I: G9.62+0.20E}},
author = {S. P. van den Heever and D. J. van der Walt},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.13774},
eprint = {2610.13774},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.13774},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Insights from the stability of methanol maser flare properties I: G9.62+0.20E
AU - S. P. van den Heever
AU - D. J. van der Walt
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/09
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.13774
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.13774
AB - The brightest 6.7 GHz methanol maser in the Galaxy is associated with the high-mass star-forming region (HMSFR) G009.62+0.20E. Additionally, this methanol maser shows periodic flaring observed at 6.7 and 12.2 GHz. Several models have been hypothesized to explain the periodicity, including periodic accretion, spiral shocks in the gaps of circumbinary disks, pulsating stars, dicke's superradiance, and a colliding wind binary (CWB) system. We analyzed the time series of the 1.22 km s-1 feature of the 6.7 GHz methanol maser spectrum and the 1.25 km s-1 feature of the 12.2 GHz methanol maser spectrum over the monitoring duration of roughly 20 years, to determine an updated period, analyze the stability and repeatability of the flares, the temporal behavior of the flare profile, and the duty cycle of the flare profile based on the updated period. From these results, it is argued for or against any of the mechanisms that have been proposed to explain the periodicity. Lomb-Scargle (LS) and phase dispersion minimization (PDM) methods were used to determine the methanol maser period at 6.7 and 12.2 GHz. Once the period has been determined, phase-folding or period-folding was used to analyze the flare shape, flare stability, and duty cycle of the flares. The periods of the 6.7 and 12.2 GHz methanol masers were determined to be ~ 243.0 +- 0.3 days. The flares are highly repeatable, stable, and show almost identical shapes, as well as their duty cycles. A replicated kernel density estimator (KDE) of the flare shape reproduces the time series very well over a time span of ~ 8000 days. After careful consideration of the proposed mechanisms for periodic methanol masers, we conclude that all but one, the CWB model, have been ruled out as a possible driver of this flare profile. It has also been established that the CWB model can qualitatively explain the flare profile of the periodic methanol masers.
ER -