Massive extended streamers feed high-mass young stars

TL;DR

This study reveals that massive streamers, rather than disks alone, feed high-mass young stars by channeling material directly to the protostar, influencing star formation processes.

Contribution

It provides high-resolution ALMA observations showing streamers as a significant inflow mechanism in high-mass star formation, challenging the disk-centric view.

Findings

Streamers persist within the expected disk radius.

Streamers are massive enough to feed the protostar.

Inflow rates can quench feedback effects.

Abstract

Stars are born in a variety of environments that determine how they gather gas to achieve their final masses. It is generally believed that disks are ubiquitous around protostars as a result of angular momentum conservation and are natural places to grow planets. As such, they are proposed to be the last link in the inflow chain from the molecular cloud to the star. However, disks are not the only form that inflows can take. Here we report on high-resolution observations performed with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array that reveal inflows in the form of streamers. These streamers persist well within the expected disk radius, indicating that they play a substitute role channeling material from the envelope directly to an unresolved small disk or even directly to the forming high-mass protostar. These flows are massive enough to feed the central unresolved region at a rate sufficient to quench the feedback effects of the young massive star.