Observations of bipolar molecular outflows with large millimeter arrays

Abstract

The ejection of a bipolar outflow is a central phenomenon in the processes by which a new star is formed, and the molecular component of such outflows is particularly interesting because of its large mass, momentum, and energy, and because it contains information about all the past mass-loss episodes from the central engine. This paper illustrates the fact that the research on bipolar molecular outflows has progressed thanks to the increase in angular resolution of the available instrumentation. I stress the importance of observing bipolar outflows with large millimeter arrays, and conclude that a millimeter-wave array providing an angular resolution of 0.1″ will solve many of the challenging questions on outflows which remain open nowadays.