Statistical Properties of 6.7 GHz Methanol Maser Sources

We present a statistical analysis of 482 6.7 GHz methanol maser sourcesfrom the available literature, on their maser emission and the characteristics oftheir associated infrared sources. On the color-color diagram, more than 70% ofthe objects fall within a very small region (0.57 ≤ [25 - 12] ≤ 1.30 and 1.30 ≤[60 - 12] ≤ 2.50). This suggests that 6.7 GHz methanol maser emission occurs onlywithin a very short evolutionary phase during the earliest stage of star formation.The velocity ranges of the masers belong to two main groups: one from 1 to 10km s-1, and one from about 11 to 20 km s-1. These velocity ranges indicate thatthe masers are probably associated with both disks and outflows. The correlationsbetween the maser and infrared flux densities, and between the maser and infraredluminosities, suggest that far-infrared radiation is a possible pumping mechanismfor the masers which most probably originate from some outer molecular envelopesor disks.