OH, SiO and $H_2O$ maser emission in O-rich AGB stars

  • Kwon, Young-Joo (Department of Astronomy and Space Science, Chungbuk National University) ;
  • Suh, Kyung-Won (Department of Astronomy and Space Science, Chungbuk National University)
  • Published : 2012.10.17

Abstract

We investigate properties of maser emission for 3373 O-rich AGB stars. We divide the sample stars into four different groups whether they were detected by OH, SiO and $H_2O$ maser emission or not. To understand the nature of the maser sources, we present various infrared two-color diagrams (2CDs) using IRAS, near infrared and AKARI data. For each group, we compare the positions on the various infrared 2CDs with theoretical models. We find that OH maser sources generally show higher color indices and larger dust optical depths than SiO or $H_2O$ maser sources. This could be due to differences of the mass-loss rates and/or variability which may influence the maser pumping mechanisms.

Keywords