Side-entrainment in a jet embedded in a sidewind

TL;DR

This paper presents 3D simulations demonstrating a new mechanism for side-entrainment in jets, where source motion causes environmental material to mix with the jet, unlike previous models.

Contribution

It introduces a novel simulation setup showing how source motion can enable side-entrainment in jets, addressing a gap in prior numerical models.

Findings

Source motion induces side-entrainment of environmental material.

Entrainment occurs through direct contact facilitated by the moving source.

Results suggest a new way to model molecular jets as atomic/ionic flows.

Abstract

Numerical simulations of HH jets never show side-entrainment of environmental material into the jet beam. This is because the bow shock associated with the jet head pushes the surrounding environment into a dense shell, which is never in direct contact with the sides of the jet beam. We present 3D simulations in which a side-streaming motion (representing the motion of the outflow source through the surrounding medium) pushes the post-bow shock shell into direct contact with the jet beam. This is a possible mechanism for modelling well collimated "molecular jets" as an atomic/ionic flow which entrains molecules initially present only in the surrounding environment.