Zeeman Effect Observations in Class I Methanol Masers

Abstract

AbstractWe report the detection of the Zeeman effect in the 44 GHz Class I methanol maser line toward the star forming region DR21W. The 44 GHz methanol masers in this source occur in a ∼3” linear structure that runs from northwest to southeast, with the two dominant components at each end, and several weaker maser components in between. Toward a 93 Jy maser in the dominant northwestern component, we find a significant Zeeman detection of −23.4 ± 3.2 Hz. If we use the recently published result of Lankhaar et al. (2018) that the F=5-4 hyperfine transition is responsible for the 44 GHz methanol maser line, then their value of z = −0.92 Hz mG−1 yields a line-of-sight magnetic field of Blos =25.4 ± 3.5 mG. If Class I methanol masers are pumped in high density regions with n∼107–8 cm−3, then magnetic fields in these maser regions should be a few to several tens of mG. Therefore, our result in DR21W is certainly consistent with the expected values.Using the above noted splitting factor in past Zeeman effect detections in Class I methanol masers reported by Sarma & Momjian (2011) and Momjian & Sarma (2017) in the star forming regions OMC-2 and DR21(OH) result in Blos values of 20.0 ± 1.2 mG and 58.2 ± 2.9 mG, respectively. These are also consistent with the expected values.