JWST/NIRSpec Reveals the Nested Morphology of Disk Winds from Young Stars

Radially extended disk winds could be the key to unlocking how protoplanetary disks accrete and how planets form and migrate.

A distinctive characteristic is their nested morphology of velocity and chemistry.

Here we report JWST/NIRSpec spectro-imaging of four young stars with edge-on disks in the Taurus star-forming region that demonstrate the ubiquity of this structure.

In each source, a fast collimated jet traced by [Fe II] is nested inside a hollow cavity within wider lower-velocity H2 and, in one case, also CO ro-vibrational (v=1-0) emission.

Furthermore, in one of our sources, ALMA CO(2-1) emission, paired with our NIRSpec images, reveals the nested wind structure extends further outward.

This nested wind morphology strongly supports theoretical predictions for wind-driven accretion and underscores the need for theoretical work to assess the role of winds in the formation and evolution of planetary systems ;Comment: This preprint has not undergone peer review or any post-submission improvements or corrections.

The Version of Record of this article is published in Nature Astronomy and is available online at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-024-02385-7