Measuring the ionisation fraction in a jet from a massive protostar

Abstract

It is important to determine if massive stars form via disc accretion, like their low-mass counterparts. Theory and observation indicate that protostellar jets are a natural consequence of accretion discs and are likely to be crucial for removing angular momentum during the collapse. However, massive protostars are typically rarer, more distant and more dust enshrouded, making observational studies of their jets more challenging. A fundamental question is whether the degree of ionisation in jets is similar across the mass spectrum. Here we determine an ionisation fraction of ~5–12% in the jet from the massive protostar G35.20-0.74N, based on spatially coincident infrared and radio emission. This is similar to the values found in jets from lower-mass young stars, implying a unified mechanism of shock ionisation applies in jets across most of the protostellar mass spectrum, up to at least ~10 solar masses.

Metadata

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Fedriani, R Garatti, ACO Purser, SJD Sanna, A Tan, JC Garcia-Lopez, R Ray, TP Coffey, D Stecklum, B Hoare, M https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2684-399X
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© The Author(s) 2019. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Dates:	Accepted: 22 July 2019 Published: 9 August 2019
Institution:	The University of Leeds
Academic Units:	The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Physics and Astronomy (Leeds) > Astrophysics (Leeds)
Depositing User:	Symplectic Publications
Date Deposited:	20 Sep 2019 15:08
Last Modified:	20 Sep 2019 15:08
Status:	Published
Publisher:	Nature Publishing Group
Identification Number:	10.1038/s41467-019-11595-x
Related URLs:	Author
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:151173

Commentary/Response Threads

Fedriani, R, Garatti, ACO, Purser, SJD, Sanna, A, Tan, JC, Garcia-Lopez, R, Ray, TP, Coffey, D, Stecklum, B and Hoare, M Measuring the ionisation fraction in a jet from a massive protostar. (deposited 20 Sep 2019 15:08) [Currently Displayed]
- Fedriani, R, Caratti o Garatti, A, Purser, SJD, Sanna, A, Tan, JC, Garcia-Lopez, R, Ray, TP, Coffey, D, Stecklum, B and Hoare, M Publisher Correction: Measuring the ionisation fraction in a jet from a massive protostar. (deposited 24 Sep 2019 10:23)

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