Abstract:

It is commonly accepted that stars form in molecular clouds by the gravitational collapse of dense gas. However, it is precisely not the infalling but the outflowing material that is primarily observed. Outflow motions prevail around both low and high mass young stellar objects. We present here results from a family of self-similar models that could possibly help to understand this paradox. The models take into account the heating of the central protostar for the deflection and acceleration of the gas. The models make room for all the ingredients observed around the central objects, i.e. molecular outflows, fast jets, accretion disks and infalling envelopes. We suggest that radiative heating and magnetic field may ultimately be the main energy sources driving outflows for both low and high mass stars. The models show that the ambient medium surrounding the jet is unhomogeneous in density, velocity, magnetic field. Consequently, we suggest that jets and outflows have a prehistory that is inprinted in their environment, and that this should have direct consequences on the setting of jet numerical simulations.

Keywords: ISM; jets; outflows; star formation

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1023/B:ASTR.0000044675.72679.27

Affiliations: 1: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 5 Merrion Square, Dublin 2, Ireland., Email: lery@cp.dias.ie 2: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 5 Merrion Square, Dublin 2, Ireland; Laboratoire de l'Univers et de ses Théories, Pl. J. Janssen, 92190 Meudon, France 3: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 5 Merrion Square, Dublin 2, Ireland