A Two-Temperature Model of Magnetized Protostellar Outflows

TL;DR

This study uses magnetohydrodynamic simulations to analyze how temperature and magnetic fields influence the morphology and kinematics of protostellar outflows, revealing the conditions for jet collimation and shell structure formation.

Contribution

It introduces a two-temperature MHD model that examines the effects of temperature and magnetic fields on protostellar outflows within the unified wind framework.

Findings

Magnetization maintains jet collimation at high temperatures.

High-temperature, low-magnetization winds produce less collimated jets.

Poloidal magnetic fields create smoother, thicker outflow shells.

Abstract

We explore kinematics and morphologies of molecular outflows driven by young protostars using magnetohydrodynamic simulations in the context of the unified wind model of Shang et al. The model explains the observed high-velocity jet and low-velocity shell features. In this work we investigate how these characteristics are affected by the underlying temperature and magnetic field strength. We study the problem of a warm wind running into a cold ambient toroid by using a tracer field that keeps track of the wind material. While an isothermal equation of state is adopted, the effective temperature is determined locally based on the wind mass fraction. In the unified wind model, the density of the wind is cylindrically stratified and highly concentrated toward the outflow axis. Our simulations show that for a sufficiently magnetized wind, the jet identity can be well maintained even at high temperatures. However, for a high temperature wind with low magnetization, the thermal pressure of the wind gas can drive material away from the axis, making the jet less collimated as it propagates. We also study the role of the poloidal magnetic field of the toroid. It is shown that the wind-ambient interface becomes more resistant to corrugation when the poloidal field is present, and the poloidal field that bunches up within the toroid prevents the swept-up material from being compressed into a thin layer. This suggests that the ambient poloidal field may play a role in producing a smoother and thicker swept-up shell structure in the molecular outflow.