Multiwavelength observations of the supernova remnant G349.7+0.2 interacting with a molecular cloud

We present molecular-line observations at millimetre, centimetre and infrared wavelengths of the region containing OH(1720 MHz) masers in the supernova remnant (SNR) G349.7+0.2, using the Australia Telescope (AT) Mopra antenna, the Swedish-ESO Submillimeter Telescope, the AT Compact Array and the UNSW Infrared Fabry-Perot narrow-band filter installed on the Anglo-Australian Telescope. Several molecular transitions were observed between 1.6 and 3 mm to constrain the physical parameters of the molecular cloud interacting with the SNR and to investigate the effects of the SNR shock on the gas chemistry. We detected shock-excited near-infrared H₂ emission towards the centre of the SNR, revealing highly clumped molecular gas and a good correlation with published mid-infrared images from the Spitzer Space Telescope. An excellent correlation between the H₂ clumps and OH(1720 MHz) maser positions supports the shock excitation of the OH(1720 MHz) maser emission. Furthermore, we detected OH absorption at 1665 and 1667 MHz which shows a good correlation with the shocked H₂ emission and the masers. We found maser emission at 1665 MHz near the OH(1720 MHz) masers in this SNR, which is found to be associated with a GLIMPSE source SSTGLMC G349.7294+00.1747. We also detected 1665 and 1667 MHz OH masers, and weak 4.8 GHz H₂CO absorption towards the ultracompact H ii region IRAS 17147-3725 located to the southeast of the SNR. We found no 4.7- or 6-GHz excited-state OH masers or 6-GHz CH₃OH maser towards either the SNR or the H ii region.