Expanding CO Shells in the Orion A Molecular Cloud

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of expanding shells around young stars in Orion A, showing they significantly contribute to cloud turbulence and challenge existing wind models, suggesting variable accretion-driven winds.

Contribution

It introduces the first detailed observations of expanding shells in Orion A and discusses their role in cloud dynamics, highlighting a discrepancy with stellar wind predictions.

Findings

Shells have radii from 0.05 to 0.85 pc and expand at 0.8 to 5 km/s.

Shell energies are comparable to protostellar outflows.

Mass-loss rates exceed predictions for line-driven stellar winds.

Abstract

We present the discovery of expanding spherical shells around low to intermediate-mass young stars in the Orion A giant molecular cloud using observations of $^{12}$CO (1-0) and $^{13}$CO (1-0) from the Nobeyama Radio Observatory 45-meter telescope. The shells have radii from 0.05 to 0.85 pc and expand outward at 0.8 to 5 km/s. The total energy in the expanding shells is comparable to protostellar outflows in the region. Together, shells and outflows inject enough energy and momentum to maintain the cloud turbulence. The mass-loss rates required to power the observed shells are two to three orders of magnitude higher than predicted for line-driven stellar winds from intermediate-mass stars. This discrepancy may be resolved by invoking accretion-driven wind variability. We describe in detail several shells in this paper and present the full sample in the online journal.