Valentin Le Gouellec Seminar

Abstract

Sun-like stars are thought to accrete most of their final mass during the protostellar phase, when the protostellar embryo is surrounded by a dense, infalling envelope. I will present several aspects of the processes thought to be at play during this phase, using both observations (ALMA, JWST, Keck) and modeling tools (MHD simulations, radiative transfer).

We examine the potential role of magnetic fields in controlling the mass infall rate and governing the evolution of the nascent circumstellar disk. One question we seek to answer is whether more disorganized magnetic fields and infalling density structures correspond to a higher probability of variable accretion and/or fragmentation.

Modeling these structures via simulations and radiative transfer calculations of polarized dust emission also allows us to explore the properties of aligned dust grains in young protostellar envelopes, where we aim to probe early dust grain evolution.
We will complete this picture of protostellar accretion and ejection with recent near-infrared observations of Class 0 protostars.