The Evolution of Protostellar Outflow Cavities, Kinematics, and Angular Distribution of Momentum and Energy in Orion A: Evidence for Dynamical Cores

Abstract

We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of the ∼10,000 au environment surrounding 21 protostars in the Orion A molecular cloud tracing outflows. Our sample is composed of Class 0 to flat-spectrum protostars, spanning the full ∼1 Myr lifetime. We derive the angular distribution of outflow momentum and energy profiles and obtain the first two-dimensional instantaneous mass, momentum, and energy ejection rate maps using our new approach: the pixel flux-tracing technique. Our results indicate that by the end of the protostellar phase, outflows will remove ∼2-4 M ⊙ from the surrounding ∼1 M ⊙ low-mass core. These high values indicate that outflows remove a significant amount of gas from their parent cores and continuous core accretion from larger scales is needed to replenish core material for star formation. This poses serious challenges to the concept of cores as well-defined mass reservoirs, and hence to the simplified core-to-star conversion prescriptions. Furthermore, we show that cavity opening angles, and momentum and energy distributions all increase with protostar evolutionary stage. This is clear evidence that even garden-variety protostellar outflows: (a) effectively inject energy and momentum into their environments on 10,000 au scales, and (b) significantly disrupt their natal cores, ejecting a large fraction of the mass that would have otherwise fed the nascent star. Our results support the conclusion that protostellar outflows have a direct impact on how stars get their mass, and that the natal sites of individual low-mass star formation are far more dynamic than commonly accepted theoretical paradigms. © 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.