Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Mid-Ir Properties Of H2o Megamaser Disks, Catherine Witherspoon

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Astrophysical masers are natural microwave amplifiers by stimulated emission and when detected in galaxy centers, they are extremely luminous (i.e. millions of times more luminous than those associated with typical star-forming regions in the spiral arms of our own Milky Way). A fraction of water megamasers detected in 22 GHz emission in galactic nuclear regions are in a disk-like configuration, which makes them extremely valuable for providing direct geometrical distances to galaxies and the most precise and accurate masses of supermassive black holes. Nevertheless, these systems are extremely rare. While the exact mechanism of water maser emission production is not …