2014A&A...563A.130S

We present the results of a 6.7GHz methanol maser survey from the Effelsberg 100m radio telescope. A sample of 404 sources from the Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey (BGPS) 1.1mm dust clump survey that met specific Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraodinaire (GLIMPSE) point-source color criteria was selected and 318 of these were observed. The new observations resulted in the detection of 29 methanol masers, including 12 new ones. Together with the additional 74 detections from the literature, this means that a total of 103 methanol masers are coincident with 1.1mm dust clumps, yielding an overall detection rate of 26%. A comparison of the properties of a 1.1mm dust clump and a 6.7GHz methanol maser indicates that methanol masers with a higher flux density and/or luminosity are generally associated with more massive but less dense 1.1mm dust clumps. The overall detection rate of 26% appears to vary as a function of the derived H₂ column density of the associated 1.1mm dust clump. The methanol masers were primarily detected toward the brighter and more massive 1.1mm dust clumps. A subsample of 194 sources that overlapped sources with observations of the 95GHz methanol line was investigated in more detail for the properties of 1.1mm dust clumps. The statistical analysis reveals that 1.1mm dust clumps with both class I and II counterparts have much higher mean and median values of mass, column density, and flux density than those with only class I or II counterparts. Based on our much larger sample, we slightly revise the boundary defined previously for selecting BGPS sources associated with a class II methanol maser, wherein ∼80% of expected class II methanol masers will be detected with a detection rate in the range of 40-50%.