Physical properties of Class I methanol masers

Abstract

AbstractAs first realised in the late 1980s, methanol masers come in two varieties, termed Class I and Class II. While Class II masers had observationally been extensively studied in the past, until recently relatively little attention was paid to Class I methanol masers due to their low luminosities compared to other maser transitions. In this review, we will focus on the recent progress in our understanding of Class I methanol masers both from an observational and from a theoretical point of view.