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Paper: The Environmental Impact and Blocking of the Massive Outflow in Orion (OMC-1)
Volume: 267, Hot Star Workshop III: the Earliest Stages of Massive Star Birth
Page: 443
Authors: Wiseman, J. J.; Putman, M. E.; Ho, P. T. P.
Abstract: The massive protostellar outflow in OMC-1, traced in CO and also in the 2.12um shock line of molecular hydrogen, emanates in a broadly bipolar fashion, with ``bullets'' of H2 shock emission seen to flow in nearly all outward directions except to the northeast, where a dense clump of environmental gas, the base of an elongated molecular filament, is observed. We present NH3 (3,3) VLA mosaic maps of the region, showing evidence that this filament is being impacted by the flow and is even prohibiting its advance in that direction. NH3 (3,3) emission, appearing only in heated zones, is evident along the edge of the core facing the flow, and both chemical excitation and temperature gradients are evident across the core toward the outflow, indicating powerful impacts and blockage of the flow. Radiation impacting the core from the embedded Orion-KL cluster may also contribute to these gradients in the adjacent molecular gas core. Thus this Orion ``test-case'' shows that dense gas in the environs of massive star formation and radiation can be heated and disrupted by massive outflows, possibly affecting subsequent star formation, and that likewise the dense fragmented gas in these active star-forming regions can block and even redirect massive protostellar outflows.
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