Author: ["Per Bjerkeli","Matthijs H. D. van der Wiel","Daniel Harsono","Jon P. Ramsey","Jes K. Jørgensen"]
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Abstract
Observations of the outflow associated with the TMC1A protostellar system reveal that the ‘disk wind’ model correctly explains how material is ejected from protostars. Observations of the young, solar-type protostar TMC1A, taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimetre Array (ALMA) in high-angular-resolution mode, provide new data on the outflows of molecular gas associated with such systems. Per Bjerkeli et al. report images of carbon monoxide gas that is ejected from a region extending up to a radial distance of 25 astronomical units from the central protostar. Their data also show that angular momentum is removed from an extended region of the disk. These findings are consistent with the 'disk wind' model, in which the outflowing gas is launched by an extended disk wind from a Keplerian disk. Young stars are associated with prominent outflows of molecular gas1,2. The ejection of gas is believed to remove angular momentum from the protostellar system, permitting young stars to grow by the accretion of material from the protostellar disk2. The underlying mechanism for outflow ejection is not yet understood2, but is believed to be closely linked to the protostellar disk3. Various models have been proposed to explain the outflows, differing mainly in the region where acceleration of material takes place: close to the protostar itself (‘X-wind’4,5, or stellar wind6), in a larger region throughout the protostellar disk (disk wind7,8,9), or at the interface between the two10. Outflow launching regions have so far been probed only by indirect extrapolation11,12,13 because of observational limits. Here we report resolved images of carbon monoxide towards the outflow associated with the TMC1A protostellar system. These data show that gas is ejected from a region extending up to a radial distance of 25 astronomical units from the central protostar, and that angular momentum is removed from an extended region of the disk. This demonstrates that the outflowing gas is launched by an extended disk wind from a Keplerian disk.Cite this article
Bjerkeli, P., van der Wiel, M., Harsono, D. et al. Resolved images of a protostellar outflow driven by an extended disk wind. Nature 540, 406–409 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature20600 