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Description
We detail interferometric observations of 44GHz class I methanol masers detected by MALT-45 (a 7mm unbiased auto-correlated spectral-line Galactic-plane survey) using the Australia Telescope Compact Array. We detect 238 maser spots across 77 maser sites. Using high-resolution positions, we compare the class I CH_3_OH masers to other star formation maser species, including CS (1-0), SiO v=0 and the H53{alpha} radio-recombination line. Comparison between the cross- and auto-correlated data has allowed us to also identify quasi-thermal emission in the 44GHz class I methanol maser line. We find that the majority of class I methanol masers have small spatial and velocity ranges (<0.5pc and <5km/s), and closely trace the systemic velocities of associated clouds. Using 870{mu}m dust continuum emission from the ATLASGAL survey, we determine clump masses associated with class I masers, and find that they are generally associated with clumps between 1000 and 3000M_{sun}_. For each class I methanol maser site, we use the presence of OH masers and radio recombination lines to identify relatively evolved regions of high-mass star formation; we find that maser sites without these associations have lower luminosities and preferentially appear towards dark infrared regions.
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