Radiative pumping of 1612 MHz OH masers: OH/IR sources with IRAS LRS spectra and 34.6 micrometer absorption feature

R. Szczerba, J. H. He, P. S. Chen

Published 2002-10-14, updated 2002-10-17Version 2

The population inversion which leads to the 1612 MHz OH maser emission has long been thought to be radiatively pumped. Since OH rotational lines involved in this pumping scheme lie in the far-infrared they became observable only after the launch of the ISO satellite. With the aim to investigate the pumping conditions of the 1612 MHz OH maser emission in more details we have searched the ISO Archive for SWS observations around 34.6 um of 1024 OH/IR sources with IRAS LRS spectra from compilation of Chen et al. (2001). Surprisingly, among 81 OH/IR sources which have appropriate SWS data only already reported objects: VY CMa, IRC+10420 and the Galactic center, show clear 34.6 um absorption line. We discuss possible reasons for non-detection of this pumping line.