STIMULATED RATIO RECOMBINATION LINE EMISSION AT 13 CENTIMETERS TOWARDMWC 349

High angular resolution (0.''065) observations of the H66alpha recombi nation line and continuum emission at 22.4 GHz toward the ionized wind in MWC 349 are presented. The continuum emission shows that the neutr al material around the central star is distributed in a torus with a t hickness of approximately 80 AU and an inner radius of approximately 1 00 AU. The H66alpha integrated line intensities are larger, by a facto r of approximately 5, than the expected spontaneous emission. Thus, we suggest that stimulated emission makes a significant contribution to the observed line intensities. We present a radiative transfer model i n which the asymmetric shape of the measured profiles and the spatial distribution of the H66alpha line are explained by radiative transfer models for a bipolar ionized wind expanding at constant velocity when non-LTE effects are taken into account. The non-LTE model products lin e intensities which are within a factor of approximately 1.4 of the ob served intensities. The discrepancies between the non-LTE predictions and the observations are probably due to the presence of density and t emperature inhomogeneities in the wind and/or uncertainties in the LTE departure coefficients used in our calculations. The origin of the ce ntimeter recombination line emission in MWC 349 is briefly discussed. It is suggested that the intensity and the spatial distribution of rec ombination line emission can be used to show the presence of ionized b ipolar outflows confined by neutral disks.