Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Aug 2003
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003basbr..23...14o&link_type=abstract
Boletim da Sociedade Astronômica Brasileira (ISSN 0101-3440), vol.23, no.1, p. 14-14
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
The gravitational energy EG of the accreted matter in the formation of a protostar of mass M* is over an order of magnitude greater than E* = * t*, where * is the average optical luminosity of the protostar and t*, its lifetime. Matter accreting onto the protostar has an angular momentum AM which is 4-5 orders of magnitude greater than A*, the angular momentum of the protostar. It has been suggested that large ejections could get rid of the excess gravitational energy, but no detailed analysis has been made. The Balbus-Hawley instability is thought to be able to get rid of the excess angular momentum. But, here again, no detailed theory exists. Alfven waves are produced by: (1) the rotation (of the molecular cloud, the accretion disk, and the protostar); (2) turbulence (due to differential rotation and magnetic reconnection in the accretion disk as well as to the Kelvin-Helmoltz instability during accretion); and (3) vibrations of the magnetosphere of the protostar. We show that it is possible for the energy of the Alfven waves emitted to be ~EG and that the angular momentum emitted can be ~AM.
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