Outflow–infall interactions as a mechanism for terminating accretion in protostars

T. Velusamy () and W. D. Langer
Additional contact information
T. Velusamy: MS 169-506, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
W. D. Langer: MS 169-506, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

Nature, 1998, vol. 392, issue 6677, 685-687

Abstract: Abstract The formation of stars begins with the collapse of a dense interstellar cloud core to a protostar surrounded by a disk of gas and dust. Material in the envelope of the cloud core falls inwards to feed further growth of the protostar and its accretion disk. At some point during the accretion phase, an outflow of gas begins along the disk's rotation axis. Outflows have been studied in a large number of sources1, and recently it has become possible to study infall (and outflow) very close to the star2,3,4,5,6,7,8. But the possible interaction between these flows and its effect on the mass of the disk and the young star remain uncertain. Here we present observational evidence for an interaction between infalling and outflowing molecular gas. The opening angle of the outflow cone is largest near the star, indicating a widening of the outflow with time. Outside the lobes of the outflowing gas we see a narrow, disk-like region that is infalling. We suggest that the widening of the outflow may isolate the disk from further infall.

Date: 1998
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/33624 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:392:y:1998:i:6677:d:10.1038_33624

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/33624

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().