The Role of Magnetically Driven Jets and Winds in the Formation of Stars and Planets

Stars forming in a variety of star-forming environments exhibit associated magnetized jets and winds. These outflows are dynamic and highly energetic phenomena that play a critical role in stellar and planetary formation, yet their physical properties and complex interactions are still not fully understood. Current research highlights how accretion processes, magnetic fields and circumstellar disk dynamics interplay to launch these outflows. Appearing in both molecular and atomic forms and across diverse spatial scales, these outflows are sculpted by interactions with their environment, underscoring the importance of shock physics in their study. Cutting-edge observational and theoretical studies, combined with laboratory experiments simulating astrophysical conditions, have significantly advanced our knowledge about the launching of these jets and winds, jet propagation, shock formation, and emission mechanisms. However, despite substantial progress, key challenges persist, particularly concerning the detailed physical conditions in the launching regions, the temporal variability of these supersonic flows, as well as the chemical and physical evolution triggered by interactions with the circumstellar disk from which they are launched and their environment.

This Research Topic aims to foster a comprehensive understanding of magnetically launched stellar outflow phenomena through interdisciplinary research strategies, integrated multi-wavelength observations, numerical modeling, and innovative laboratory experiments. We aim at collecting publications that will be a crucial resource for researchers in a very diverse range of stages: from junior students to senior researchers. We seek studies that specifically unravel formation mechanisms through the various stages of star formation, the relationship between magnetized outflows and accretion disks, the processes behind jet variability and episodic ejections, and the chemistry and energetic conditions impacting the launch physics and observed emission features. By integrating data across multiple spectral regimes, timescales, theoretical frameworks, and physical analogues from laboratory experiments, the goal is to address outstanding scientific questions about magnetized jets and winds and their role within stellar evolution frameworks.

To gather further insights within the boundaries of both observational and theoretical perspectives, we welcome contributions addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

● MHD winds and Jets: formation and observations, and relation to accretion processes
● Jets and winds driven by low-mass stars
● Jets and winds in massive star forming regions
● Numerical modeling and theoretical approaches for stellar jet/wind launching and dynamics
● Multi-wavelength observational diagnostics spanning low- to high-energy regimes
● Laboratory simulations mimicking astrophysical jet phenomena
● Temporal variability and multi-epoch analyses of jet emissions and interactions
● Astrochemical processes within disks, jet-induced shocks and environments
● Future observational strategies, facilities, and instrumentation planned for jet studies
● Detailed case studies involving multi-band analyses of individual stellar outflows, e.g. magnetized jet and wind of DG Tau.

We encourage submissions of original research, reviews, mini reviews, and perspectives addressing these critical themes to support a vibrant, diverse, and collaborative field.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Magnetically Driven Jets, Star Formation, Circumstellar Disks, Shock Physics, Numerical Modeling

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.