Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: How do magnetic fields shape the way young stars gather gas from their birth clouds? Using high-resolution Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of a young triple protostellar system HOPS-182, we identify an elongated stream of gas, or accretion streamer, that extends over several thousand astronomical units (1 astronomical unit is the Earth-Sun distance) and carries a substantial flow of material toward the system. The gas speeds along this filament increase toward the star in a way consistent with gravitational free fall, while the streamer's shape closely follows the magnetic field threading the region. By comparing the strengths of gravity and magnetic tension and measuring how the gas rotates compared with the local magnetic field, we show that the field is strong enough to help confine and guide the infalling gas and efficiently remove the angular momentum. These results suggest that a substantial fraction of the material falling onto young protostellar systems can be funneled through elongated, magnetically structured accretion streamers.
Source: Science Advances
Authors: Bo Huang, Josep M. Girart, Ian W. Stephens, Tom Megeath, Valentin J. M. Le Gouellec, Nadia M. Murillo, Paulo Cortés, Manuel Fernández-López, Zhi-Yun Li, Leslie W. Looney, J. A. López-Vázquez, Jaime E. Pineda, Álvaro Sánchez-Monge, Patricio Sanhueza, Sarah Sadavoy, Qizhou Zhang, Charles L. H. Hull, Nicole Karnath, Enwei Liang, Philip C. Myers
Institutions: Institute of Space Sciences, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya, Worcester State University, University of Toledo, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Atacama Large Millimeter Submillimeter Array, Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, University of Virginia, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Academia Sinica, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, The University of Tokyo, Queen's University, Smithsonian Institution, Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Space Science Institute, Guangxi University
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $4,500
Funders: National Science Foundation, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, European Commission, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Ministry of Science and ICT, South Korea, National Science and Technology Council, Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, Guangxi Key Research and Development Program
Awards: G1175115578, Probing Circumstellar Disk Properties with Polarization, G210041235, G2262748287, G2469010403, G2546042667, G2601397997, G2627575503, G300979063, G323133095, G34346518, G3480869486, G3681454997, G4042783231, G425668148, G4442677895, G4526231891, G4534730369, G464105488, 原子炉による悪性皮膚腫瘍の選択的治療, G5080475149, G5195188938, G5905308874, G617610489, G6713716034, Polarization Observations: A Pioneering Probe of Grain Growth and Magnetic Fields in Circumstellar Disks, G6955600488, G7084143925, 古代説話における諸寺縁起の研究
OpenAlex ID: W7162129481