Mid-IR properties of OH maser galaxies

The OHM fraction tends to increase with cooler MIR colors (larger F_22{mu}m_/F_3.4{mu}m_). These may be good for sample selection when searching OH megamasers, such as excluding extreme luminous sources at short MIR wavelengths, choosing sources with cooler MIR colors. In the case of the power-law model, we derived the spectral indices for our samples.

For the Arecibo survey sample, OHM (U)LIRGs tend to have larger spectral index {alpha}_22-12_ than non-OHM sources, which agrees with previous results. One significant correlation exists between the WISE infrared luminosity at 22{mu}m and the color [W1]-[W4] for the Arecibo OHM hosts. These clues should provide suitable constraints on the sample selection for OH megamaser surveys by future advanced telescopes (e.g., FAST).

In addition, the correlation of maser luminosity and the MIR luminosity of maser hosts tends to be non-significant, which may indirectly support the pumping of OHM emission that is dominated by the far infrared radiation, instead of the MIR radiation.