Exploring The Signatures of Wind-Envelope Interactions in Protostellar Outflows

Abstract

Protostellar outflows and jets play a critical role in the formation and evolution of young stellar objects (YSOs). This thesis investigates kinematics and morphology of outflows, the signatures of their interaction with the surrounding envelope, by focusing on three pro- tostellar sources at various capacities: CARMA-7, HH 30, and DG Tau B. We utilize high resolution observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and analyze the kinematics and morphology of molecular outflows, traced by CO isotopologues. Thanks to the rich astrochemistry presented by CARMA-7, we ex- tend the analyses to molecules such as SO and SiO, which trace different components of the outflow-jet system. A primary objective of this thesis is to understand how nested velocity cones and their parameters affect observed position-velocity (PV) diagrams per- pendicular to the outflow-jet axis; by developing a parameterized geometric model of outflows, we explore how inclination, opening angles, and velocity distributions shape observational signatures. Towards the end, we attempt to model the PV diagrams gotten from the class I outflow HH 30.