Oral Presentation

Violent cosmic explosions in massive young clusters: Remains of a proto-stellar merge?

Author(s): Luis Zapata (IRyA-UNAM)

Presenter: Luis Zapata (Instituto de Radioastronomía y Astrofísica)

The phenomenon of molecular outflow was first discovered in the
1980’s. Very high velocity motions were detected in the line wings of
the carbon monoxide molecule, seen towards Orion-KL. With the subsequent
detection of the bipolar outflows in many sources, they became
recognized as a ubiquitous stage in star formation. Excess angular
momentum was carried outwards by the molecular outflow, which allowed
the remaining material to fall onto the protostar. However, around 10
years ago, our paradigm changed radically, the eponymous outflow in
Orion-KL turned out to be an explosive outflow. These explosive flows
are possibly powered by the release of gravitational energy related with
the formation of a massive (proto)stellar merger or a close stellar
binary, a totally different process from the classical bipolar outflows.
In this talk, I will review this new phenomenon, and show the latest
efforts to reveal more cases where possible mergers events could led the
violent flows.