FASHI: A search for extragalactic OH megamasers with FAST
Abstract
The FAST All Sky HI survey (FASHI) is broader in frequency band and deeper in detection sensitivity than the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA survey (ALFALFA). FASHI is designed to cover the entire sky observable by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). To efficiently expand the OH megamaser (OHM) sample at the rest frequency of 1667.35903 MHz, we directly matched the IRAS Point Source Catalog Redshift (PSCz) catalog with the corresponding FASHI data cube. We then obtained 27 OHMs, including 9 previously known and 18 new ones, within a redshift range of $0.14314\lesssim z_{\rm OH} \lesssim0.27656$. We also measured the hyperfine ratio of nine OHMs between the 1667 and 1665 MHz lines. The ratio ranges from 1.32 to 15.22, with an average of $R_{1667:1665}=4.74$. To fit the $L_{\rm OH}$ and $L_{\rm FIR}$ relationship, we have ${\rm log}L_{\rm OH}= (1.58\pm0.10){\rm log}L_{\rm FIR}-(15.93\pm1.20)$, which is almost the same as the previous observations. All 27 OHMs have relatively high FIR luminosities, suggesting that the host system has undergone a very recent and violent starburst. The multi-wavelength SED fitting results also show that the OH host galaxies are massive ($M_* \simeq 10^{11}M_\odot$) galaxies with the SFR above the star-forming main sequence. The high $A_V$ value of the OH galaxies from the SED fit is consistent with the high IR luminosities. On the other hand, not all ULIRGs have detectable OH emission, suggesting that the OH emission may be triggered within a specific stage of the merger. In general, FAST, with its 19-beam array and UWB receiver, will be a powerful tool for observing more OHMs and unraveling their mystery in the future.
- Publication:
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arXiv e-prints
- Pub Date:
- January 2024
- DOI:
- 10.48550/arXiv.2401.15397
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2401.15397
- Bibcode:
- 2024arXiv240115397Z
- Keywords:
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- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
- E-Print:
- 25 pages, 31 figures. Comments are welcome