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Masahiro N. Machida

Publications and source records attributed to Masahiro N. Machida.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Gravitational Wave Physics and Astronomy in the nascent era

The detections of gravitational waves (GW) by LIGO/Virgo collaborations provide various possibilities to physics and astronomy. We are quite sure that GW observations will develop a lot both in precision and in number owing to the continuous works for the improvement of detectors, including the expectation to the newly joined detector, KAGRA, and the planned detector, LIGO-India. In this occasion, we review the fundamental outcomes and prospects of gravitational wave physics and astronomy. We survey the development focusing on representative sources of gravitational waves: binary black holes, binary neutron stars, and supernovae. We also summarize the role of gravitational wave observations as a probe of new physics.

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Revealing a Centrally Condensed Structure in OMC-3/MMS 3 with ALMA High Resolution Observations

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), we investigated a peculiar millimeter source MMS 3 located in the Orion Molecular Cloud 3 (OMC-3) region in the 1.3 mm continuum, CO ($J$=2-1), SiO ($J$=5-4), C$^{18}$O ($J$=2-1), N$_2$D$^+$ ($J$=3-2), and DCN ($J$=3-2) emissions. With the ALMA high angular resolution ($\sim$0''.2), we detected a very compact and highly centrally condensed continuum emission with a size of 0''.45 $\times$ 0''.32 (P.A.=0.22$^\circ$). The peak position coincides with the locations of previously reported $Spitzer$/IRAC and X-ray sources within their positional uncertainties. We also detected an envelope with a diameter of $\sim$6800 au (P.A.=75$^\circ$) in the C$^{18}$O ($J$=2-1) emission. Moreover, a bipolar outflow was detected in the CO ($J$=2-1) emission for the first time. The outflow elongates roughly perpendicular to the long axis of the envelope detected in the C$^{18}$O ($J$=2-1) emission. Compact high-velocity CO gas in the (red-shifted) velocity range of 22-30 km s$^{-1}$, presumably tracing a jet, was detected near the 1.3 mm continuum peak. A compact and faint red-shifted SiO emission was marginally detected on the CO outflow lobe. The physical quantities of the outflow in MMS 3 are relatively smaller than those in other sources in the OMC-3 region. The centrally condensed object associated with the near-infrared and X-ray sources, the flattened envelope, and the faint outflow indicate that MMS 3 harbors a low mass protostar with an age of $\sim$10$^3$ yr.

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Testing Disk Identification Methods Through Numerical Simulations of Protostellar Evolution

We test whether the radii of circumstellar disks can be reliably determined in observations applying the results of a numerical simulation. Firstly, we execute a core collapse simulation which starts from a rotating magnetized spherical core, and continue the calculation until the protostellar mass reaches 0.5 Msun. Then, for each set of simulation data, we calculate the radiative transfer to generate the data cube for the synthetic observation. The spatial and velocity resolutions of the synthetic observation are 0.15 arcsec (20 au) and 0.1 km/s, respectively. We define seven different disk radii. Four radii are estimated from the synthetic observation, using the continuum image, continuum visibility, C18O channel map, and C18O position velocity (PV) diagram. The other three radii are taken from the simulation and use the disk rotation, infall motion, and density contrast around the protostar to identify the disk. Finally, we compare the disk radii estimated from the systemic observation with those from the simulation. We find that the disk radius defined using the PV diagram can reliably trace the Keplerian disk when the protostellar mass is larger than M_*>~ 0.2 Msun independent of the inclination angle to the line of sight. In addition, the PV diagram provides an accurate estimate of the central stellar mass through the whole protostellar evolution. The simulation also indicates that the circumstellar disk is massive enough to be gravitationally unstable through the evolution. Such an unstable disk can show either a circular or spiral morphology on a similar timescale.

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Misaligned Twin Molecular Outflows From Class-0 Proto-stellar Binary System VLA 1623A Unveiled by ALMA

We present the results of ALMA observations toward the low-mass Class-0 binary system, VLA 1623Aab in the Ophiuchus molecular cloud in $^{12}$CO, $^{13}$CO, and C$^{18}$O(2--1) lines. Our $^{12}$CO ($J$=2--1) data reveal that the VLA 1623 outflow consists of twin spatially overlapped outflows/jets. The redshifted northwestern jet exhibits the three cycles of wiggle with a spatial period of 1360$\pm$10 au, corresponding to a time period of 180 yr. The wiggle-like structure is also found in the position-velocity (PV) diagram, showing an amplitude in velocity of about 0.9 km s$^{-1}$. Both the period and the velocity amplitude of the wiggle are roughly consistent with those expected from the binary parameters, i.e., the orbital period (460$\pm$20 yr) and the Keplerian velocity (2.2 km s$^{-1}$). Our $^{13}$CO and C$^{18}$O images reveal the nature of the dense gas in the two cm/mm sources, VLA 1623-B and -W, and its relation to the outflows, and strongly support the previous interpretation that both are shocked cloudlets. The driving sources of the twin molecular outflows are, therefore, likely to be within the VLA 1623Aab binary. The axes of the two molecular outflows are estimated to be inclined by 70$\arcdeg$ from each other across the plane of sky, implying that the associated protostellar disks are also misaligned by $70\arcdeg$. Such a misalignment, together with a small binary separation of 34 au in the one of the youngest protobinary systems known, is difficult to explain by models of disk fragmentation in quiescent environments. Instead, other effects such as turbulence probably play roles in misaligning the disks.

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Failed and delayed protostellar outflows with high mass accretion rates

The evolution of protostellar outflows is investigated under different mass accretion rates in the range $\sim10^{-5}-10^{-2} {\rm M}_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ with three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations. A powerful outflow always appears in strongly magnetized clouds with $B_0 \gtrsim B_{\rm 0, cr}$ $=10^{-4} (M_{\rm cl}/100 {\rm M}_\odot){\rm G}$, where $M_{\rm cl}$ is the cloud mass. When a cloud has a weaker magnetic field, the outflow does not evolve promptly with a high mass accretion rate. In some cases with moderate magnetic fields $B_0$ slightly smaller than $B_{\rm 0,cr}$, the outflow growth is suppressed or delayed until the infalling envelope dissipates and the ram pressure around the protostellar system is significantly reduced. In such an environment, the outflow begins to grow and reaches a large distance only during the late accretion phase. On the other hand, the protostellar outflow fails to evolve and is finally collapsed by the strong ram pressure when a massive $(\gtrsim 100 {\rm M}_\odot)$ initial cloud is weakly magnetized with $B_0 \lesssim 100 μ{\rm G}$. The failed outflow creates a toroidal structure that is supported by magnetic pressure and encloses the protostar and disk system. Our results indicate that high-mass stars form only in strongly magnetized clouds, if all high-mass protostars possess a clear outflow. If we would observe either very weak or no outflow around evolved protostars, it means that strong magnetic fields are not necessarily required for high-mass star formation. In any case, we can constrain the high-mass star formation process from observations of outflows.

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FRagmentation and Evolution of dense cores Judged by ALMA (FREJA). I (Overview). Inner $\sim$1000 au structures of prestellar/protostellar cores in Taurus

We have performed survey-type observations in 1 mm continuum and molecular lines toward dense cores (32 prestellar + 7 protostellar) with an average density of $\gtrsim$10$^5$ cm$^{-3}$ in the Taurus molecular clouds using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array-Atacama Compact Array (ALMA-ACA) stand-alone mode with an angular resolution of 6.$''$5 ($\sim$900 au). The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the innermost part of dense cores toward understanding the initial condition of star formation. In the protostellar cores, contributions from protostellar disks dominate the observed continuum flux with a range of 35-90% except for the very low-luminosity object. For the prestellar cores, we have successfully confirmed continuum emission from dense gas with a density of $\gtrsim$3 $\times$10$^5$ cm$^{-3}$ toward approximately one-third of the targets. Thanks to the lower spatial frequency coverage with the ACA-7 m array, the detection rate is significantly higher than that of the previous surveys, which have 0 or 1 continuum detected sources among large number of starless samples using the ALMA Main array. The statistical counting method tells us that the lifetime of the prestellar cores until protostar formation therein approaches the free-fall time as the density increases. Among the prestellar cores, at least two targets have possible internal substructures, which are detected in continuum emission with the size scale of $\sim$1000 au if we consider the molecular line (C$^{18}$O and N$_2$D$^{+}$) distributions. These results suggest that small-scale fragmentation/coalescence processes occur in a region smaller than 0.1 pc, which may determine the final core mass associated with individual protostar formation before starting the dynamical collapse of the core with central density of $\sim$(0.3-1) $\times$ 10$^6$ cm$^{-3}$.

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A low-velocity bipolar outflow from a deeply embedded object in Taurus revealed by the Atacama Compact Array

The first hydrostatic core, the first quasi-hydrostatic object formed during the star formation process, is still the observational missing link between the prestellar and protostellar phases, mainly due to its short lifetime. Although we have not established a clear method to identify this rare object, recent theoretical studies predict that the first core has millimeter continuum emission and low-velocity outflow with a wide opening angle. An extensive continuum/outflow survey toward a large number of $"$starless$"$ cores in nearby star-forming regions works as a pathfinder. We observed 32 prestellar cores in Taurus with an average density of $\gtrsim$10$^5$ cm$^{-3}$ in 1.3 mm continuum and molecular lines using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array$-$Atacama Compact Array (ALMA$-$ACA) stand-alone mode. Among the targets, MC35-mm centered at one of the densest $"$starless$"$ cores in Taurus has blueshifted/redshifted wings in the $^{12}$CO (2-1) line, indicating that there is deeply embedded object driving molecular outflow. The observed velocities and sizes of the possible outflow lobes are 2-4 km s$^{-1}$, and $\sim$2 $\times$10$^3$ au, respectively, and the dynamical time is calculated to be $\sim$10$^3$ yr. In addition to this, the core is one of the strongest N$_2$D$^{+}$ (3-2) emitters in our sample. All of the observed signatures do not conflict with any of the theoretical predictions about the first hydrostatic core so far, and thus MC35-mm is unique as the only first-core candidate in the Taurus molecular cloud.

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The Effect of Misalignment between Rotation Axis and Magnetic Field on Circumstellar Disk

The formation of circumstellar disks is investigated using three-dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations, in which the initial prestellar cloud has a misaligned rotation axis with respect to the magnetic field. We examine the effects of (i) the initial angle difference between the global magnetic field and the cloud rotation axis ($θ_0$) and (ii) the ratio of the thermal to gravitational energy ($α_0$). We study $16$ models in total and calculate the cloud evolution until $\sim \! 5000$ yr after protostar formation. Our simulation results indicate that an initial non-zero $θ_0$ ($> 0$) promotes the disk formation but tends to suppress the outflow driving, for models that are moderately gravitationally unstable, $α_0 \lesssim 1$. In these models, a large-sized rotationally-supported disk forms and a weak outflow appears, in contrast to a smaller disk and strong outflow in the aligned case ($θ_0 = 0$). Furthermore, we find that when the initial cloud is highly unstable with small $α_0$, the initial angle difference $θ_0$ does not significantly affect the disk formation and outflow driving.

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Twin Jets and Close Binary Formation

The formation of a close binary system is investigated using a three-dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamics simulation. Starting from a prestellar cloud, the cloud evolution is calculated until about 400 yr after protostar formation. Fragmentation occurs in the gravitationally collapsing cloud and two fragments evolve into protostars. The protostars orbit each other and a protobinary system appears. A wide-angle low-velocity outflow emerges from the circumbinary streams that encloses two protostars, while each protostar episodically drives high-velocity jets. Thus, the two high-velocity jets are surrounded by the low-velocity circumbinary outflow. The speed of the jets exceeds $\gtrsim 100 km s^{-1}$. Although the jets have a collimated structure, they are swung back on the small scale and are tangled at the large scale due to the binary orbital motion. A circumstellar disk also appears around each protostar. In the early main accretion phase, the binary orbit is complicated, while the binary separation is within $<30$ au. For the first time, all the characteristics of protobinary systems recently observed with large telescopes are reproduced in a numerical simulation.

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Magnetic Field Structure of Orion Source I

We observed polarization of the SiO rotational transitions from Orion Source I (SrcI) to probe the magnetic field in bipolar outflows from this high mass protostar. Both 43 GHz $J$=1-0 and 86 GHz $J$=2-1 lines were mapped with $\sim$20 AU resolution, using the Very Large Array (VLA) and Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA), respectively. The $^{28}$SiO transitions in the ground vibrational state are a mixture of thermal and maser emission. Comparison of the polarization position angles in the $J$=1-0 and $J$=2-1 transitions allows us to set an upper limit on possible Faraday rotation of $10^{4}$ radians m$^{-2}$, which would twist the $J$=2-1 position angles typically by less than 10 degrees. The smooth, systematic polarization structure in the outflow lobes suggests a well ordered magnetic field on scales of a few hundred AU. The uniformity of the polarization suggests a field strength of $\sim$30 milli-Gauss. It is strong enough to shape the bipolar outflow and possibly lead to sub-Keplerian rotation of gas at the base of the outflow. The strikingly high fractional linear polarizations of 80-90% in the $^{28}$SiO $v$=0 masers require anisotropic pumping. We measured circular polarizations of 60% toward the strongest maser feature in the $v$=0 $J$=1-0 peak. Anisotropic resonant scattering (ARS) is likely to be responsible for this circular polarization. We also present maps of the $^{29}$SiO $v$=0 $J$=2-1 maser and several other SiO transitions at higher vibrational levels and isotopologues.

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Disk structure around the Class I protostar L1489 IRS revealed by ALMA: a warped disk system

We have observed the Class I protostar L1489 IRS with the Atacama Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Band 6. The C$^{18}$O $J=$2-1 line emission shows flattened and non-axisymmetric structures in the same direction as its velocity gradient due to rotation. We discovered that the C$^{18}$O emission shows dips at a radius of ~200-300 au while the 1.3 mm continuum emission extends smoothly up to r~400 au. At the radius of the C$^{18}$O dips, the rotational axis of the outer portion appears to be tilted by ~15 degrees from that of the inner component. Both the inner and outer components with respect to the C$^{18}$O dips exhibit the $r^{-0.5}$ Keplerian rotation profiles until r~600 au. These results not only indicate that a Keplerian disk extends up to ~600 au but also that the disk is warped. We constructed a three dimensional warped disk model rotating at the Keplerian velocity, and demonstrated that the warped disk model reproduces main observed features in the velocity channel maps and the PV diagrams. Such a warped disk system can form by mass accretion from a misaligned envelope. We also discuss a possible disk evolution scenario based on comparisons of disk radii and masses between Class I and Class II sources.

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Different Modes of Star Formation II: Gas Accretion Phase of Initially Subcritical Star-Forming Clouds

The accretion phase of star formation is investigated in magnetically-dominated clouds that have an initial subcritical mass-to-flux ratio. We employ nonideal magnetohydrodynamic simulations that include ambipolar diffusion and ohmic dissipation. During the early prestellar phase the mass-to-flux ratio rises toward the critical value for collapse, and during this time the angular momentum of the cloud core is reduced significantly by magnetic braking. Once a protostar is formed in the core, the accretion phase is characterized by the presence of a small amount of angular momentum but a large amount of magnetic flux in the near-protostellar environment. The low angular momentum leads to a very small (or even nonexistent) disk and weak outflow, while the large magnetic flux can lead to an interchange instability that rapidly removes flux from the central region. The effective magnetic braking in the early collapse phase can even lead to a counter-rotating disk and outflow, in which the rotation direction of the disk and outflow is opposite to that of the infalling envelope. The solutions with a counter-rotating disk, tiny disk, or nonexistent disk (direct collapse) are unique outcomes that are realized in collapse from magnetically-dominated clouds with an initial subcritical mass-to-flux ratio.

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Misalignment of Magnetic Fields, Outflows and Discs in Star-forming Clouds

Using resistive magnetohydrodynamics simulations, the propagation of protostellar jets, the formation of circumstellar discs and the configuration of magnetic fields are investigated from the prestellar cloud phase until $\sim$500 yr after protostar formation. As the initial state, we prepare magnetized rotating clouds, in which the rotation axis is misaligned with the global magnetic field by an angle $θ_0$. We calculate the cloud evolution for nine models with different $θ_0 (=$ 0, 5, 10, 30, 45, 60, 80, 85, 90$^\circ$). Our simulations show that there is no significant difference in the physical quantities of the protostellar jet, such as the mass and momentum, among the models except for the model with $θ_0=90^\circ$. On the other hand, the directions of the jet, disc normal and magnetic field are never aligned with each other during the early phase of star formation except for the model with $θ_0=0^\circ$. Even when the rotation axis of the prestellar cloud is slightly inclined to the global magnetic field, the directions of the jet, disc normal and local magnetic field differ considerably, and they randomly change over time. Our results indicate that it is very difficult to extract any information from the observations of the directions of the outflow, disc and magnetic field at the scale of $\lesssim 1000$ au. Thus, we cannot use such observations to derive any restrictions on the star formation process.

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Protostellar Evolution in Serpens Main: Possible Origin of Disk-Size Diversity

We have observed the submillimeter continuum condensations SMM2, SMM4, SMM9, and SMM11 in the star forming cluster Serpens Main using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array during Cycle 3 in the 1.3 mm continuum, 12CO J=2-1, SO J_N=6_5-5_4, and C18O J=2-1 lines at an angular resolution of ~0.55 (240 au). Sixteen sources have been detected in the 1.3 mm continuum, which can be classified into three groups. Group 1 consists of six sources showing extended continuum emission and bipolar/monopolar 12CO outflows. Although all the Group 1 members are classified as Class 0 protostars, our observations suggest evolutionary trends among them in terms of 12CO outflow dynamical time, SO emission distribution, C18O fractional abundance, and continuum morphology. Group 2 consists of four sources associated with a continuum filamentary structure and no 12CO outflows. Central densities estimated from the 1.3 mm continuum intensity suggest that they are prestellar sources in a marginally Jeans unstable state. Group 3 consists of six Spitzer sources showing point-like 1.3 mm continuum emission and clumpy 12CO outflows. These features of Group 3 suggest envelope dissipation, preventing disk growth from the present size, r <~ 60 au. The Group 3 members are protostars that may be precursors to the T Tauri stars associated with small disks at tens-au radii identified in recent surveys.

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The first bird's-eye view of a gravitationally unstable accretion disk in high-mass star formation

We report on the first bird's-eye view of the innermost accretion disk around the high-mass protostellar object G353.273+0.641, taken by Atacama Large Millimter/submillimeter Array long-baselines. The disk traced by dust continuum emission has a radius of 250 au, surrounded by the infalling rotating envelope traced by thermal CH$_3$OH lines. This disk radius is consistent with the centrifugal radius estimated from the specific angular momentum in the envelope. The lower-limit envelope mass is $\sim$5-7 M$_{\odot}$ and accretion rate onto the stellar surface is 3 $\times$ 10$^{-3}$ M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$ or higher. The expected stellar age is well younger than 10$^{4}$ yr, indicating that the host object is one of the youngest high-mass objects at present. The disk mass is 2-7 M$_{\odot}$, depending on the dust opacity index. The estimated Toomre's $Q$ parameter is typically 1-2 and can reach 0.4 at the minimum. These $Q$ values clearly satisfy the classical criteria for the gravitational instability, and are consistent with the recent numerical studies. Observed asymmetric and clumpy structures could trace a spiral arm and/or disk fragmentation. We found that 70$\%$ of the angular momentum in the accretion flow could be removed via the gravitational torque in the disk. Our study has indicated that the dynamical nature of a self-gravitating disk could dominate the early phase of high-mass star formation. This is remarkably consistent with the early evolutionary scenario of a low-mass protostar.

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A centrally concentrated sub-solar mass starless core in the Taurus L1495 filamentary complex

The formation scenario of brown dwarfs is still unclear because observational studies to investigate its initial condition are quite limited. Our systematic survey of nearby low-mass star-forming regions using the Atacama Compact Array (aka Morita array) and the IRAM 30 m telescope in 1.2 mm continuum has identified a centrally concentrated starless condensation with a central H$_2$ volume density of $\sim$10$^6$ cm$^{-3}$, MC5-N, connected to a narrow (width $\sim$0.03 pc) filamentary cloud in the Taurus L1495 region. The mass of the core is $\sim$0.2-0.4 $M_{\odot}$, which is an order of magnitude smaller than typical low-mass prestellar cores. Taking into account a typical core to star formation efficiency for prestellar cores ($\sim$20%-40%) in nearby molecular clouds, brown dwarf(s) or very low-mass star(s) may be going to be formed in this core. We have found possible substructures at the high-density portion of the core, although much higher angular resolution observation is needed to clearly confirm them. The subsequent N$_2$H$^+$ and N$_2$D$^+$ observations using the Nobeyama 45 m telescope have confirmed the high-deuterium fractionation ($\sim$30%). These dynamically and chemically evolved features indicate that this core is on the verge of proto-brown dwarf or very low-mass star formation and is an ideal source to investigate the initial conditions of such low-mass objects via gravitational collapse and/or fragmentation of the filamentary cloud complex.

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Driving Conditions of Protostellar Outflows in Different Star-Forming Environments

The evolution of collapsing clouds embedded in different star-forming environments is investigated using three-dimensional non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics simulations considering different cloud metallicities ($Z/\thinspace Z_\odot$ = 0, 10$^{-5}$, 10$^{-4}$, 10$^{-3}$, 10$^{-2}$, 10$^{-1}$ and 1) and ionisation strengths ($C_ζ$=0, 0.01, 1 and 10, where $C_ζ$ is a coefficient controlling the ionisation intensity and $C_ζ=1$ corresponds to the ionisation strength of nearby star-forming regions). With all combinations of these considered values of $Z/\thinspace Z_\odot$ and $C_ζ$, 28 different star-forming environments are prepared and simulated. The cloud evolution in each environment is calculated until the central density reaches $n\approx10^{16}\,{\rm cm}^{-3}$ just before protostar formation, and the outflow driving conditions are derived. An outflow appears when the (first) adiabatic core forms in a magnetically active region where the magnetic field is well coupled with the neutral gas. In cases where outflows are driven, their momentum fluxes are always comparable to the observations of nearby star-forming regions. Thus, these outflows should control the mass growth of the protostars as in the local universe. Roughly, an outflow appears when $Z/\thinspace Z_\odot>10^{-4}$ and $C_ζ\ge 0.01$. It is expected that the transition of the star formation mode from massive stars to normal solar-type stars occurs when the cloud metallicity is enhanced to the range of $Z/\thinspace Z_\odot\approx 10^{-4}$--$10^{-3}$, above which relatively low-mass stars would preferentially appear as a result of strong mass ejection.

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The First Two Thousand Years of Star Formation

Starting from a prestellar core with a size of $1.2\times10^4$ AU, we calculate the evolution of a gravitationally collapsing core until $\sim2000$ yr after protostar formation using a three-dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulation, in which the protostar is resolved with a spatial resolution of $5.6\times10^{-3}$ AU. Following protostar formation, a rotationally supported disk is formed. Although the disk size is as small as $\sim2-4$ AU, it remains present until the end of the simulation. Since the magnetic field dissipates and the angular momentum is then not effectively transferred by magnetic effects, the disk surface density gradually increases and spiral arms develop due to gravitational instability. The disk angular momentum is then transferred mainly by gravitational torques, which induce an episodic mass accretion onto the central protostar. The episodic accretion causes a highly time-variable mass ejection (the high-velocity jet) near the disk inner edge, where the magnetic field is well coupled with the neutral gas. As the mass of the central protostar increases, the jet velocity gradually increases and exceeds $\sim100$ km s$^{-1}$. The jet opening angle widens with time at its base, while the jet keeps a very good collimation on the large scale. In addition, a low-velocity outflow is driven from the disk outer edge. A cavity-like structure, a bow shock and several knots, all of which are usually observed in star-forming regions, are produced in the outflowing region.

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