Discovery of Jet-Bubble-Disk Interaction: Jet Feedback on a Protoplanetary Disk via an Expanding Bubble in WSB 52

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of a bubble interacting with a protoplanetary disk around WSB 52, providing evidence of jet feedback influencing disk dynamics and potentially affecting star and planet formation processes.

Contribution

It presents the first observational evidence of jet feedback on a protoplanetary disk through an expanding bubble, revealing new insights into star and planet formation mechanisms.

Findings

Identification of an expanding bubble interacting with the disk

Deformation and high-velocity components in the disk

Evidence of jet-triggered bubble influencing disk evolution

Abstract

While stellar jets and outflows are fueled by accretion from disks, their direct influence on disks remain unexplored. Here we revisit ALMA observations of $^{12}\mathrm{CO}\,(J=2-1)$ line emission for the young stellar object WSB 52. We identify an expanding bubble that interacts with its protoplanetary disk. Given that the disk axis points toward the bubble center and the kinetic energy of the bubble is roughly $10^{41}$ erg, we postulate that stellar jets, aligned with the disk axis, have triggered the bubble. The bubble morphology is consistent with uniform expansion with partial concavity, implying the bubble-disk interaction. Correspondingly, the shape and the velocity field of protoplanetary disk appear to be deformed and exhibit high-velocity components, suggesting strong interactions and mass loss from the disk. The discovery of jet feedback onto the disk via the bubble -- which we term the jet-bubble-disk interaction -- sheds new light on the dynamical processes governing star and planet formation.