Ambipolar Diffusion in Young Stellar Object Jets

Details Ambipolar Diffusion in Young Stellar Object Jets Ambipolar Diffusion in Young Stellar Object Jets

Oct 1999

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999apj...524..947f&link_type=abstract

The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 524, Issue 2, pp. 947-951.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

17

Ism: Jets And Outflows, Magnetohydrodynamics: Mhd, Stars: Pre-Main-Sequence

Scientific paper

We address the issue of ambipolar diffusion in Herbig-Haro (HH) jets. The current consensus holds that these jets are launched and collimated via MHD forces. Observations have, however, shown that the jets can be mildly to weakly ionized. Beginning with a simple model for cylindrical equilibrium between neutral, plasma, and magnetic pressures, we calculate the characteristic timescale for ambipolar diffusion. Our results show that a significant fraction of HH jets will have ambipolar diffusion timescales equivalent to, or less than, the dynamical timescales. This implies that MHD equilibria established at the base of an HH jet may not be maintained as the jet propagates far from its source. For typical jet parameters one finds that the length scale at which ambipolar diffusion should become significant corresponds to the typical size of large (parsec) scale jets. We discuss the significance of these results for the issue of magnetic fields in parsec-scale jets.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Ambipolar Diffusion in Young Stellar Object Jets does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Ambipolar Diffusion in Young Stellar Object Jets, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Ambipolar Diffusion in Young Stellar Object Jets will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1084005