No Arabic abstract
We investigate the formation of circumstellar disks and outflows subsequent to the collapse of molecular cloud cores with the magnetic field and turbulence. Numerical simulations are performed by using an adaptive mesh refinement to follow the evolution up to $sim 1000$~yr after the formation of a protostar. In the simulations, circumstellar disks are formed around the protostars; those in magnetized models are considerably smaller than those in nonmagnetized models, but their size increases with time. The models with stronger magnetic field tends to produce smaller disks. During evolution in the magnetized models, the mass ratios of a disk to a protostar is approximately constant at $sim 1-10$%. The circumstellar disks are aligned according to their angular momentum, and the outflows accelerate along the magnetic field on the $10-100$~au scale; this produces a disk that is misaligned with the outflow. The outflows are classified into two types: a magneto-centrifugal wind and a spiral flow. In the latter, because of the geometry, the axis of rotation is misaligned with the magnetic field. The magnetic field has an internal structure in the cloud cores, which also causes misalignment between the outflows and the magnetic field on the scale of the cloud core. The distribution of the angular momentum vectors in a core also has a non-monotonic internal structure. This should create a time-dependent accretion of angular momenta onto the circumstellar disk. Therefore, the circumstellar disks are expected to change their orientation as well as their sizes in the long-term evolutions.
Context The Vela Molecular Ridge is one of the nearest (700 pc) giant molecular cloud (GMC) complexes hosting intermediate-mass (up to early B, late O stars) star formation, and is located in the outer Galaxy, inside the Galactic plane. Vela C is one of the GMCs making up the Vela Molecular Ridge, and exhibits both sub-regions of robust and sub-regions of more quiescent star formation activity, with both low- and intermediate(high)-mass star formation in progress. Aims We aim to study the individual and global properties of dense dust cores in Vela C, and aim to search for spatial variations in these properties which could be related to different environmental properties and/or evolutionary stages in the various sub-regions of Vela C. Methods We mapped the submillimetre (345 GHz) emission from vela C with LABOCA (beam size 19.2, spatial resolution ~0.07 pc at 700 pc) at the APEX telescope. We used the clump-finding algorithm CuTEx to identify the compact submillimetre sources. We also used SIMBA (250 GHz) observations, and Herschel and WISE ancillary data. The association with WISE red sources allowed the protostellar and starless cores to be separated, whereas the Herschel dataset allowed the dust temperature to be derived for a fraction of cores. The protostellar and starless core mass functions (CMFs) were constructed following two different approaches, achieving a mass completeness limit of 3.7 Msun. Results We retrieved 549 submillimetre cores, 316 of which are starless and mostly gravitationally bound (therefore prestellar in nature). Both the protostellar and the starless CMFs are consistent with the shape of a Salpeter initial mass function in the high-mass part of the distribution. Clustering of cores at scales of 1--6 pc is also found, hinting at fractionation of magnetised, turbulent gas.
We demonstrate the formation of gravitationally unstable discs in magnetized molecular cloud cores with initial mass-to-flux ratios of 5 times the critical value, effectively solving the magnetic braking catastrophe. We model the gravitational collapse through to the formation of the stellar core, using Ohmic resistivity, ambipolar diffusion and the Hall effect and using the canonical cosmic ray ionization rate of $zeta_text{cr} = 10^{-17}$ s$^{-1}$. When the magnetic field and rotation axis are initially aligned, a $lesssim1$~au disc forms after the first core phase, whereas when they are anti-aligned, a gravitationally-unstable 25~au disc forms during the first core phase. The aligned model launches a 3~km~s$^{-1}$ first core outflow, while the anti-aligned model launches only a weak $lesssim 0.3$~km~s$^{-1}$ first core outflow. Qualitatively, we find that models with $zeta_text{cr} = 10^{-17}$ s$^{-1}$ are similar to purely hydrodynamical models if the rotation axis and magnetic field are initially anti-aligned, whereas they are qualitatively similar to ideal magnetohydrodynamical models if initially aligned.
We report our analyses of the multi-epoch (2015-2017) ALMA archival data of the Class II binary system XZ Tau at Bands 3, 4 and 6. The millimeter dust continuum images show compact, unresolved (r <~ 15 au) circumstellar disks (CSDs) around the individual binary stars; XZ Tau A and B, with a projected separation of ~ 39 au. The 12CO (2-1) emission associated with those CSDs traces the Keplerian rotations, whose rotational axes are misaligned with each other (P.A. ~ -5 deg for XZ Tau A and ~ 130 deg for XZ Tau B). The similar systemic velocities of the two CSDs (VLSR ~ 6.0 km s-1) suggest that the orbital plane of the binary stars is close to the plane of the sky. From the multi-epoch ALMA data, we have also identified the relative orbital motion of the binary. Along with the previous NIR data, we found that the elliptical orbit (e = 0.742+0.025-0.034, a = 0.172+0.002-0.003, and {omega} = -54.2+2.0-4.7 deg) is preferable to the circular orbit. Our results suggest that the two CSDs and the orbital plane of the XZ Tau system are all misaligned with each other, and possible mechanisms to produce such a configuration are discussed. Our analyses of the multi-epoch ALMA archival data demonstrate the feasibility of time-domain science with ALMA.
The 100 square degree FCRAO CO survey of the Taurus molecular cloud provides an excellent opportunity to undertake an unbiased survey of a large, nearby, molecular cloud complex for molecular outflow activity. Our study provides information on the extent, energetics and frequency of outflows in this region, which are then used to assess the impact of outflows on the parent molecular cloud. The search identified 20 outflows in the Taurus region, 8 of which were previously unknown. Both $^{12}$CO and $^{13}$CO data cubes from the Taurus molecular map were used, and dynamical properties of the outflows are derived. Even for previously known outflows, our large-scale maps indicate that many of the outflows are much larger than previously suspected, with eight of the flows (40%) being more than a parsec long. The mass, momentum and kinetic energy from the 20 outflows are compared to the repository of turbulent energy in Taurus. Comparing the energy deposition rate from outflows to the dissipation rate of turbulence, we conclude that outflows by themselves cannot sustain the observed turbulence seen in the entire cloud. However, when the impact of outflows is studied in selected regions of Taurus, it is seen that locally, outflows can provide a significant source of turbulence and feedback. Five of the eight newly discovered outflows have no known associated stellar source, indicating that they may be embedded Class 0 sources. In Taurus, 30% of Class I sources and 12% of Flat spectrum sources from the Spitzer YSO catalogue have outflows, while 75% of known Class 0 objects have outflows. Overall, the paucity of outflows in Taurus compared to the embedded population of Class I and Flat Spectrum YSOs indicate that molecular outflows are a short-lived stage marking the youngest phase of protostellar life.
The properties of the first-discovered interstellar object (ISO), 1I/2017 (`Oumuamua), differ from both Solar System asteroids and comets, casting doubt on a protoplanetary disk origin. In this study, we investigate the possibility that it formed with a substantial H2 ice component in the starless core of a giant molecular cloud. While interstellar solid hydrogen has yet to be detected, this constituent would explain a number of the ISOs properties. We consider the relevant processes required to build decameter-sized, solid hydrogen bodies and assess the plausibility of growth in various size regimes. Via an energy balance argument, we find that the most severe barrier to formation is the extremely low temperature required for the favorability of molecular hydrogen ice. However, if deposition occurs, we find that the turbulence within starless cores is conducive for growth into kilometer-sized bodies on sufficiently short timescales. Then, we analyze mass loss in the interstellar medium and determine the necessary size for a hydrogen object to survive a journey to the Solar System as a function of ISO age. Finally, we discuss the implications if the H2 explanation is correct, and we assess the future prospects of ISO science. If hydrogen ice ISOs do exist, our hypothesized formation pathway would require a small population of porous, 100 micron dust in a starless core region that has cooled to 2.8K via adiabatic expansion of the surrounding gas and excellent shielding from electromagnetic radiation and cosmic rays.