Magnetogravitationally regulated streamer accretion onto a class 0 protostellar system
How do magnetic fields shape the way young stars gather gas from their birth clouds? Using high-resolution Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of a young triple protostellar system HOPS-182, we identify an elongated stream of gas, or accretion streamer, that extends over several thousand astronomical units (1 astronomical unit is the Earth-Sun distance) and carries a substantial flow of material toward the system. The gas speeds along this filament increase toward the star in a way consistent with gravitational free fall, while the streamer's shape closely follows the magnetic field threading the region. By comparing the strengths of gravity and magnetic tension and measuring how the gas rotates compared with the local magnetic field, we show that the field is strong enough to help confine and guide the infalling gas and efficiently remove the angular momentum. These results suggest that a substantial fraction of the material falling onto young protostellar systems can be funneled through elongated, magnetically structured accretion streamers.
Authors
- Philip C. Myers (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2885-1806)
- Nadia M. Murillo
- S. T. Megeath (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7629-3573)
- Bo Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7393-8583)
- A. Sanchez-Monge
- Charles L. H. Hull (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8975-7573)
- Valentin J. M. Le Gouellec (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5714-799X)
- Nicole Karnath (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3682-854X)
- Liang EnWei
- Josep M. Girart
- Sarah Sadavoy
- Paulo Cortés (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3583-780X)
- Ian W. Stephens (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3017-4418)
- J. A. López-Vázquez
- Qizhou Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2384-6589)
- Patricio Sanhueza (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7125-7685)
- Manuel Fernández-López (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5811-0454)
- Zhi-Yun Li
- Jaime E. Pineda (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3972-1978)
- Leslie W. Looney (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4540-6587)
Institutions
- Space Science Institute (US)
- Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica (TW)
- Guangxi University (CN)
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- Queen's University (CA)
- National Radio Astronomy Observatory (US)
- Atacama Large Millimeter Submillimeter Array (CL)
- Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KR)
- Indianapolis Zoo (US)
- Worcester State University (US)
- Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (DE)
- Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (ES)
- Institute of Space Sciences (ES)
- Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (US)
- Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía (AR)
- Astronomy and Space (AU)
- National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (JP)
- University of Virginia (US)
- Universidad Nacional de La Plata (AR)
- Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (MX)
- University of Toledo (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science Advances
- Published
- 2026-05-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aec0413
- Primary Topic
- Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
- European Commission
- Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
- Ministry of Science and ICT, South Korea
- National Science and Technology Council
- Horizon 2020 Framework Programme
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- Agencia Estatal de Investigación
- Guangxi Key Research and Development Program