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[20.01] Investigating the HH 212 Molecular Outflow: the Jet- and Wind-Driven Models

N.L. Chapman, L.G. Mundy (UMD), C.-F. Lee (JPL), S.M. White (UMD)

Molecular outflows are a common stage in star formation and over 200 outflows have been discovered to date, but the fundamental driving mechanism for outflows remains uncertain. The current leading theories are the wide-angle wind-driven model (Shu et al. 1991) and the jet-driven model (Raga & Cabrit 1993; Masson & Chernin 1993). Using the BIMA interferometer, we have made observations of the HH 212 molecular outflow in several molecules (CO, HCO⁺, SiO). This outflow was selected because of its high-degree of bipolar symmetry, the numerous well- defined H₂ bow shocks (Zinnecker et al. 1998), and excellent morphological relationship of H₂ to CO (Lee et al. 2000). Molecular shock physics describes how molecules behave at different temperatures and velocities. Using this, it is possible to describe the emission characteristics expected in both wind- and jet-driven scenarios. We compare our observations with the models to investigate the driving mechanism of molecular outflows.

This research was supported by NASA grant NAG 510611.

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34, #4
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.