Collapse of turbulent massive cores with ambipolar diffusion and hybrid radiative transfer II. Outflows

TL;DR

This study uses advanced simulations to explore the origins of massive protostellar outflows, finding magnetic processes primarily drive outflows up to 17 solar masses, with turbulence influencing their morphology and launching mechanisms.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the combined effects of magnetic fields, radiative transfer, and turbulence on the formation and characteristics of massive protostellar outflows.

Findings

Magnetic processes dominate outflow acceleration up to 17 solar masses.

Turbulence delays outflow launching and can produce monopolar outflows.

Radiative acceleration enlarges outflow extent without hindering magnetic launching.

Abstract

(Abridged) Most massive protostars exhibit bipolar outflows. Nonetheless, there is no consensus regarding the mechanism at the origin of these outflows, nor on the cause of the less-frequently observed monopolar outflows. We aim to identify the origin of early massive protostellar outflows, focusing on the combined effects of radiative transfer and magnetic fields in a turbulent medium. We use four state-of-the-art radiation-magnetohydrodynamical simulations following the collapse of massive 100 Msun pre-stellar cores with the Ramses code. Turbulence is taken into account via initial velocity dispersion. We use a hybrid radiative transfer method and include ambipolar diffusion. We find that turbulence delays the launching of outflows, which appear to be mainly driven by magnetohydrodynamical processes. Magnetic tower flow and the magneto-centrifugal acceleration contribute to the acceleration and the former operates on larger volumes than the latter. Our finest resolution, 5 AU, does not allow us to get converged results on magneto-centrifugally accelerated outflows. Radiative acceleration takes place as well, dominates in the star vicinity, enlarges the outflow extent, and has no negative impact on the launching of magnetic outflows (up to M~17 Msun, L~1e5 Lsun). The associated opening angles (20-30 deg when magnetic fields dominate) suggest additional (de-)collimating effects to meet observational constraints. Outflows are launched nearly perpendicular to the disk and are misaligned with the initial core-scale magnetic fields, in agreement with several observational studies. In the most turbulent run, the outflow is monopolar. We conclude that magnetic processes dominate the acceleration of massive protostellar outflows up to ~17 Msun, against radiative processes. Turbulence perturbs the outflow launching and is a possible explanation for monopolar outflows.