Protostellar Disk Formation Regimes: Angular Momentum Conservation versus Magnetic Braking

Abstract

Protostellar disks around young protostars exhibit diverse properties, with their radii ranging from less than ten to several hundred astronomical units. To investigate the mechanisms shaping this disk radius distribution, we compiled a sample of 27 Class 0 and I single protostars with resolved disks and dynamically determined protostellar masses from the literature. Additionally, we derived the radial profile of the rotational-to-gravitational-energy ratio in dense cores from the observed specific angular momentum profiles in the literature. Using these observed protostellar masses and rotational energy profile, we computed theoretical disk radii from the hydrodynamic and nonideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) models in Y.-N. Lee et al. and generated synthetic samples to compare with the observations. In our theoretical model, the disk radii are determined by hydrodynamics when the central protostar+disk mass is low. After the protostars and disks grow and exceed certain masses, the disk radii become regulated by magnetic braking and nonideal MHD effects. The synthetic disk radius distribution from this model matches well with the observations. This result suggests that hydrodynamics and nonideal MHD can be dominant in different mass regimes (or evolutionary stages), depending on the rotational energy and protostar+disk mass. This model naturally explains the rarity of large (>100 au) disks and the presence of very small (<10 au) disks. It also predicts that the majority of protostellar disks have radii of a few tens of astronomical units, as observed.

Keywords

• Star formation
• Protostars
• Circumstellar disks
• Magnetohydrodynamics