Unveiling the Launching Region of YSO jets with AMBER

F. Bacciotti, L. Testi, A. Marconi, P. J. V. Garcia, T. Ray, J. Eislöffel, C. Dougados

Abstract
The interplay between accretion and ejection in the environment of young stellar objects (YSOs) is believed to be a crucial element in the star formation process. Since most of the properties of the models are set up in the first few AUs from the source (below the so-called Alfvèn surface), to validate and constrain the models observationally we need very high angular resolution. With HST (resolution ~ 0.1", i.e. about 14 AU in Taurus) we have been able to access the external border of the acceleration region, for jets in the Taurus-Auriga cloud. Here we see an onion-like kinematic structure in the first 200 AU of the flow, and indications for rotation around the symmetry axis for the resolved low/moderate velocity component. We have now planned observations with AMBER on the VLTI to investigate at 1 mas resolution (in J) the core of the central engine, down to 0.1 AU from the source. Here we describe a joint project by several Institutes in the AMBER consortium dedicated to the study of the morphology and detailed kinematics of a few selected targets. On one hand we will use the large UV coverage of the ATs to explore at medium spectral resolution the structure of the flow. On the other hand the large collection area of the UTs combined with the high resolution mode (R=10000) of AMBER will allow us to search for interesting kinematic features, among which signatures of rotation around the axis, that would constitute an important validation of the proposed models for the jet launching.

Astrophysics and Space Science
Volume 286, Page 157
August 2003

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