Astrophysical Masers and their Environments

About this book

Astrophysical masers, naturally occurring microwave and radio-wave emissions, provide an important tool to investigate astrophysical environments. Several thousand maser sources have been observed in the interstellar medium and star formation regions, in the expanding winds from evolved stars, in the compressed shells of supernovae remnants, in comets and in the centers of galaxies. Masers are also useful for studying the structure and dynamics of our own galaxy, while masers in other galaxies are now used for cosmological studies and studies of galactic nuclei. This volume contains the latest research on the topic as presented at IAU Symposium 242, only the third international symposium on astrophysical masers. Over 125 astronomers from 18 different countries gathered in Alice Spring, Australia, for discussions on maser research.

Contents

Preface; Conference prelims; Tribute to Raymond James Cohen J. M. Chapman and W. A. Baan; History P. Edwards; Session 1. Maser theory Anne Green; Session 2. Polarization and magnetic fields Athol Kemball; Session 3. Masers and star formation Mark Wardle; Session 4. Galactic maser surveys Philip Diamond and Hiroshi Imai; Session 5. Stellar masers, circumstellar winds and supernova remnants Hiroshi Imai, Crystal Brogan and Miller Goss; Session 6. Galactic structure and the Galactic Centre Luis Rodriguez; Session 7. Masers in AGN environments Moshe Elitzur; Session 8. Megamaser and starburst activity Lincoln Greenhill; Session 9. Diagnostics and interpretation in extragalactic environments Colin Lonsdale; Session 10. New millimeter and sub-millimeter masers Indra Bains; Session 11. Future facilities and conference summary Elizabeth Humphreys and Karl Menten; Author index.

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