English

JWST/MIRI Detection of Molecular H$_2$ Winds from an Edge-on Class II Source HV Tau C

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2026-07-28 v1 Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Astrophysics of Galaxies

Abstract

The evolution of protoplanetary disks is regulated by accretion onto the central star and mass loss through jets and winds. While atomic and ionized outflows are commonly observed, molecular winds in evolved Class II disks remain rarely detected. We characterize the spatial, thermal, kinematic, and dynamical properties of molecular hydrogen (H2_2) emission from the nearly edge-on Class II disk HV Tau C and assess the impact of its molecular wind. We also constrain accretion using H I recombination lines detected in the same mid-infrared spectrum. Using JWST/MIRI-MRS data from the MINDS Cycle 1 GTO program, we analyze spatially resolved pure-rotational H2_2 emission. Rotational and position-velocity diagrams constrain excitation and kinematics, from which we estimate wind properties. We detect extended H2_2 emission tracing a wide-angled, biconical molecular wind extending beyond the near-infrared scattered-light disk, ALMA 887 μ\mum dust continuum, and compact 12^{12}CO (J=3J=3-22) gas disk. The H2_2 rotational diagram requires warm (\sim600K) and hot (\sim2000K) components, similar to those in younger protostars. The gas shows outward motions of a few tens of km s1^{-1} and dynamical timescales of tens to hundreds of years. The inferred mass-loss rate is 108\sim10^{-8} M_\odot yr1^{-1}, while accretion rates derived from H I lines are 101010^{-10}-10810^{-8} M_\odot yr1^{-1}. The accretion rate may be underestimated because of the edge-on geometry. Our results show that wide-angled molecular H2_2 winds can persist into the Class II phase, with outflow rates comparable to some protostellar systems, suggesting that such winds may remain important for angular momentum removal, disk evolution, and dispersal. (Abstract modified; see the paper for the full version.)

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.25770,
  title  = {JWST/MIRI Detection of Molecular H$_2$ Winds from an Edge-on Class II Source HV Tau C},
  author = {Vinod Chandra Pathak and P. Manoj and Himanshu Tyagi and B. Shridharan and Th. Henning and I. Kamp and A. Caratti o Garatti and B. Banerjee and Mayank Narang and E. F. van Dishoeck and Kamber Schwarz and Manuel Güdel and Alice Somigliana and Giulia Perotti and Aditya M. Arabhavi and Sujay Vijay Jadhav and Göran Olofsson},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.25770},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

Accepted in the Astronomy and Astrophysics Journal. Main text: 25 pages with 13 figures