HH 270/110 as a jet/shear layer interaction

TL;DR

This paper combines JWST observations and 3D simulations to investigate how a high-velocity shear environment causes the deflection and distorted morphology of the HH 110 jet from the HH 270 jet in a perturbed outflow region.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed numerical model explaining the deflection of HH 270 into HH 110 through a high-velocity shear environment, supported by new JWST observations.

Findings

HH 110 morphology results from high sideways velocity (~30 km/s) shear environment.

Simulations replicate the distorted working surfaces seen in HH 110.

A strongly perturbed environment is necessary for the observed jet deflection.

Abstract

New observations obtained with JWST of the proto-stellar HH~270 jet and the "deflected" HH 110 system, show that HH 110 has a morphology of a series of distorted working surfaces. These working surfaces appear to be "deflected versions" of the heads of the incident, HH 270 jet. We compute a series of 3D numerical simulations, in which we explore the possible parameters of a shearing environment that could give origin to the deflection of HH 270 into the HH 110 flow. We find that we need a quite high sideways velocity for the streaming environment (of ~30km/s) in order to produce the complex structure observed in HH 110. This high velocity would be possible in an environment which has been strongly perturbed by the passage of other outflows.