Numerical simulations of stellar jets and comparison between synthetic and observed maps: clues to the launch mechanism^⋆

¹ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Firenze, via G. Sansone 1, 50019 Sesto F. no, Firenze, Italy
² INFN – Sezione di Firenze, via G. Sansone 1, 50019 Sesto F. no, Firenze, Italy
³ INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo E. Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy

Received: 28 June 2013
Accepted: 14 April 2014

Abstract

High angular resolution spectra obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (HST/STIS) provide rich morphological and kinematical information about the stellar jet phenomenon, which allows us to test theoretical models efficiently. In this work, numerical simulations of stellar jets in the propagation region are executed with the PLUTO code, by adopting inflow conditions that arise from former numerical simulations of magnetized outflows, accelerated by the disk-wind mechanism in the launching region. By matching the two regions, information about the magneto-centrifugal accelerating mechanism underlying a given astrophysical object can be extrapolated by comparing synthetic and observed position-velocity diagrams. We show that quite different jets, like those from the young T Tauri stars DG-Tau and RW-Aur, may originate from the same disk-wind model for different configurations of the magnetic field at the disk surface. This result supports the idea that all the observed jets may be generated by the same mechanism.