GBT21B-115

OH Megamasers Hiding in Plain Sight

Abstract

We propose a search of new OH megamasers (OHMs) in six candidate sources. As the redshifted 1667 MHz OH masing line can mimic the 1420 MHz neutral Hydrogen (HI) emission line, all six of these candidates were originally discovered by untargeted HI surveys. These objects were identified to be hidden OHMs using our novel machine learning algorithm that classifies OHMs from HI sources using near- to mid-IR photometry. The confirmation of these sources would be the first OHMs identified using this method. Any non-detections are equally important for understanding potential pitfalls -- however, three of these sources are strongly suspected to be OHMs due to their coincident optical redshift. The other three sources are potential sources of both OH and HI emission, a phenomena that has not been previously examined.

Investigators

Name	Institution
Hayley Roberts *	Minnesota, University of; Colorado at Boulder, University of
Jeremy Darling	Colorado at Boulder, University of
Kelley Hess	Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy; Chalmers University of Technology

* indicates the PI