Modeling the launching of jets from forming massive stars
André Oliva
Thursday, Dec. 8th, 14:20CET
We performed 31 radiative-gravito-resistive-magnetohydrodynamical simulations of the formation of a massive star, focusing on the self-consistent formation of a disk-jet system around the massive protostar. The simulation catalog explores several environmental conditions for individual star formation, with which we studied the launching, acceleration, collimation and termination of the magnetically driven outflows and their dependence with those initial conditions. With this high-resolution (min. cell size: 0.03 au) simulation catalog, we were able to model the main kinematical features observed in the disk-jet system in IRAS 21078+5211. New VLBI observations of water masers in that target trace for the first time individual streamlines of the jet emerging from the accretion disk, reaching unprecedented resolutions (0.05 au) in the inner 100 au around the forming massive star. The simulations were able to reproduce the observed kinematics of the flow traced by the masers, as well as to provide possible mechanisms for the production of nonthermal radiation (observed at scales of 1000 au away from the protostar) and a bow shock (observed at scales of 35 000 au away from the protostar). This comparison provides the best evidence to date that protostellar jets are produced as MHD disk winds. Full list of authors: A. Oliva, R. Kuiper (theory team); L. Moscadelli, A. Sanna, H. Beuther (observational team). Based on the following publications: Oliva & Kuiper (2022) A&A accepted; Moscadelli, Sanna, Beuther, Oliva & Kuiper (2022) Nature Astronomy 6 1068