Low-Mass Star Formation: From Molecular Cloud Cores to Protostars and Protoplanetary Disks

Abstract

This review describes realistic evolution of magnetic field and rotation of the protostars, dynamics of outflows and jets, and the formation and evolution of protoplanetary disks. Recent advances in the protostellar collapse simulations cover a huge dynamic range from molecular cloud core density to stellar density in a self-consistent manner and account for all the non-ideal magnetohydrodynamical effects, such as Ohmic resistivity, ambipolar diffusion, and Hall current. We explain the emergence of the first core, i.e. , the quasi-hydrostatic object that consists of molecular gas, and the second core, i.e. , the protostar. Ohmic dissipation largely removes the magnetic flux from the center of a collapsing cloud core. A fast well-collimated bipolar jet along the rotation axis of the protostar is driven after the magnetic field is re-coupled with warm gas (∼103 K) around the protostar. The circumstellar disk is born in the “dead zone”, a region that is de-coupled from the magnetic field, and the outer radius of the disk increases with that of the dead zone during the early accretion phase. The rapid increase of the disk size occurs after the depletion of the envelope of molecular cloud core. The effect of Hall current may create two distinct populations of protoplanetary disks.