This paper reports the discovery of a water maser at redshift 2.64 in the dust- and gas-rich gravitationally lensed type-1 quasar MG J0414+0534. Using the locally determined luminosity function, the probability of finding a maser this luminous associated with any single active galaxy is 10−6, leading to the conclusion that the volume densities and luminosities of masers are higher at that epoch.
- C. M. Violette Impellizzeri
- John P. McKean
- Olaf Wucknitz