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Description
We have observed a sample of 288 molecular outflow sources including 123 high-mass and 165 low-mass sources in order to search for class I methanol masers at the 95GHz transition and to investigate the relationship between outflow characteristics and class I methanol maser emission with the Purple Mountain Observatory 13.7m radio telescope. Our survey detected 62 sources with 95GHz methanol masers above a 3{sigma} detection limit, which includes 47 high-mass sources and 15 low-mass sources. Therefore, the detection rate is 38% for high-mass outflow sources and 9% for low-mass outflow sources, suggesting that class I methanol masers are relatively easily excited in high-mass sources. There are 37 newly detected 95GHz methanol masers (including 27 high-mass and 10 low-mass sources), 19 of which are newly identified (i.e., first identification) class I methanol masers (including 13 high-mass and 6 low-mass sources). A statistical analysis of the distributions of maser detections with the outflow parameters reveals that the maser detection efficiency increases with the outflow properties (e.g., mass, momentum, kinetic energy, mechanical luminosity of outflows, etc.). Systematic investigations of the relationships between the intrinsic luminosity of methanol masers and the outflow properties (including mass, momentum, kinetic energy, bolometric luminosity, and mass-loss rate of the central stellar sources) indicate a positive correlation. This further supports the theory that class I methanol masers are collisionally pumped and associated with shocks when outflows interact with the surrounding ambient medium.
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