Outflow collimation in young stellar objects

Abstract

In this paper we explore the effect of radiative losses on purely hydrodynamic jet collimation models applicable to Young Stellar Objects (YSOs). In our models aspherical bubbles form from the interaction of a central YSO wind with an aspherical circum-protostellar density distribution. Building on a previous non-radiative study (Frank & Mellema 1996) we demonstrate that supersonic jets are a natural and robust consequence of aspherical wind-blown bubble evolution. The simulations show that the addition of radiative cooling makes the hydrodynamic collimation mechanisms studied by Frank & Mellema (1996) more effective. An unexpected result is the production of cool, dense jets forming through conical converging flows at the poles of the bubbles. For steady winds the formation of these jets occurs early in the bubble evolution. At later times we find that the dynamical and cooling time scales for the jet material become similar. Since observations of YSO jets show considerable variability in the jet beam we present a simple one-dimensional (1-D) model for the evolution of a variable wind interacting with an accreting environment. These models indicate that, in the presence of a varying protostellar wind, the hydrodynamic collimation processes studied in our simulations can produce cool jets with sizes and time scales consistent with observations.