Letter to the Editor

Averting the magnetic braking catastrophe on small scales: disk formation due to Ohmic dissipation

Department of Physics & Astronomy, The University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond St., London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada e-mail: wdapp@uwo.ca, basu@uwo.ca

Received: 6 September 2010
Accepted: 1 October 2010

Abstract

We perform axisymmetric resistive MHD calculations that demonstrate that centrifugal disks can indeed form around Class 0 objects despite magnetic braking. We follow the evolution of a prestellar core all the way to near-stellar densities and stellar radii. Under flux-freezing, the core is braked and disk formation is inhibited, while Ohmic dissipation renders magnetic braking ineffective within the first core. In agreement with observations that do not show evidence for large disks around Class 0 objects, the resultant disk forms in close proximity to the second core and has a radius of only ≈ 10  early on. Disk formation does not require enhanced resistivity. We speculate that the disks can grow to the sizes observed around Class II stars over time under the influence of both Ohmic dissipation and ambipolar diffusion, as well as internal angular momentum redistribution.