The First Estimation of the Ambipolar Diffusivity Coefficient from Multi-Scale Observations of the Class 0/I Protostar, HOPS-370

TL;DR

This study introduces a novel analytical method to estimate the ambipolar diffusivity coefficient in a protostellar disk, revealing its significant role in disk formation and magnetic field dynamics in the Class 0/I protostar HOPS-370.

Contribution

The paper presents the first estimation of the ambipolar diffusivity coefficient from multi-scale observations of a protostar, highlighting its dynamical importance and dominance over other non-ideal MHD effects.

Findings

Estimated ambipolar diffusivity coefficient: $1.7^{+1.5}_{-1.4} imes 10^{19}\,cm^{2}\,s^{-1}$

Els"{a}sser number indicates ambipolar diffusion's dynamical significance (~1.7)

Ambipolar diffusion dominates over Ohmic and Hall effects in the studied density regime.

Abstract

Protostars are born in magnetized environments. As a consequence, the formation of protostellar disks can be suppressed by the magnetic field efficiently removing angular momentum of the infalling material. Non-ideal MHD effects are proposed to as one way to allow protostellar disks to form. Thus, it is important to understand their contributions in observations of protostellar systems. We derive an analytical equation to estimate the ambipolar diffusivity coefficient at the edge of the protostellar disk in the Class 0/I protostar, HOPS-370, for the first time, under the assumption that the disk radius is set by ambipolar diffusion. Using previous results of the protostellar mass, disk mass, disk radius, density and temperature profiles and magnetic field strength, we estimate the ambipolar diffusivity coefficient to be $1.7^{+1.5}_{-1.4}\times10^{19}\,\mathrm{cm^{2}\,s^{-1}}$. We quantify the contribution of ambipolar diffusion by estimating its dimensionless Els\"{a}sser number to be $\sim1.7^{+1.0}_{-1.0}$, indicating its dynamical importance in this region. We compare to chemical calculations of the ambipolar diffusivity coefficient using the Non-Ideal magnetohydrodynamics Coefficients and Ionisation Library (NICIL), which is consistent with our results. In addition, we compare our derived ambipolar diffusivity coefficient to the diffusivity coefficients for Ohmic dissipation and the Hall effect, and find ambipolar diffusion is dominant in our density regime. These results demonstrate a new methodology to understand non-ideal MHD effects in observations of protostellar disks. More detailed modeling of the magnetic field, envelope and microphysics, along with a larger sample of protostellar systems is needed to further understand the contributions of non-ideal MHD.