Spitzer Space Telescope - General Observer Proposal #30760


Gas Entrainment and Shock Physics in Giant Protostellar Outflows

Principal Investigator: Hector Arce
           Institution: American Museum of Natural History

Co-Investigators: 
Alberto Noriega-Crespo, Spitzer Science Center                        
Mordecai-Mark Mac Low, American Museum of Natural History             
Alex Rosen, Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy                   
Alyssa Goodman, Harvard University                                    
Alex Raga, UNAM                                                       

Science Category: star formation 
 Observing Modes: IracMap IrsMap IrsStare 
  Hours Approved: 20.4 

Abstract:
The colossal size of giant Herbig-Haro (HH) flows enable them to
impact cloud material parsecs away from their source, thereby
affecting the kinematics, density and chemistry of a substantial
volume of their parent cloud.  These energetic phenomena are very
important to the general dynamics and evolution of star-forming
regions.  We propose to observe two giant outflows with IRAC and IRS.
Using deep IRAC images, we will map the total extent of the giant
outflow cavities.  The IRAC data will be used to analyze the
morphology, luminosity and shape of the flows, which will then be
compared to high-resolution molecular outflow (CO) maps in order to
study the outflow entrainment process.  We will also compare our data
with hydrodynamic simulations of outflows in order to further
constrain the nature of the protostellar wind and the outflow-cloud
interactions.  IRS maps will provide the data to study the properties
of the shocks responsible for entraining the surrounding gas.
Combining the IRS data and multi-line millimeter data will allow us to
estimate the energy transfer efficiency between shocks and the cloud
gas and will provide observational constrains to shock chemistry
models.