Title："Rare" masers in our Galaxy

Speaker：Wenjin Yang (Nanjing University)

Time: 10:00 am Sept. 10th (Wednesday)

Tencent Meeting： 871197955

Location: 1715

Abstract：

Masers — amplified stimulated emission at microwave wavelengths — are powerful diagnostics for probing excitation conditions, gas kinematics, stellar evolutionary stages, and etc. Multiple molecular species exhibit maser action in diverse Galactic environments, such as star-forming regions, the circumstellar envelopes of evolved stars, and supernova remnants. A single molecule can produce several maser transitions, some of which are relatively rare. Such rarity may reflect exceptional excitation conditions, potentially linked to specific physical processes and/or short-lived evolutionary phases. However, limited observations raise questions about whether certain masers are truly rare. In this talk, I will present our recent advances on "rare" masers, focusing on class II methanol masers in massive star-forming regions and HCN lasers in carbon-rich AGB stars, to illustrate how such masers offer new perspectives on their host environments.

CV:

Dr. Wenjin Yang obtained her PhD at Purple Mountain Observatory in 2020. She worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy until June 2023, after which she joined Nanjing University as a postdoc and has been working there since then. Her research mainly focuses on cosmic masers (e.g., CH3OH, HCN and SiO masers) in star-forming regions, evolved stars, and supernova remnants. For more information, please visit: https://wjyang7.github.io