Here we present kinematical and morphological studies of the HH 46/47 and RU Lupi protostellar outflows using ESO’s SINFONI, an IR Integral-Field Spectrograph (IFS) and ESO’s MUSE, an optical IFS, respectively. Bipolar outflows, launched perpendicular to the accretion disk surrounding a forming star, are a crucial part of stellar formation and disk evolution as they are thought to be the dominant mechanism for angular momentum extraction from the star/disk system.
High-velocity, collimated jets and lower-velocity, wide-angled disk winds are thought to be the two main components of these outflows. Investigating the connection between these components, and the precise mechanism for angular momentum removal requires that information be extracted from the base of the outflow. Observations using SINFONI and MUSE in Narrow-Field-Mode (NFM), allow us to investigate the outflow launching region at high resolution and constrain how these outflows are launched and how significantly they interact with the disk.
In particular we explore the role of MHD disk winds in angular momentum removal by studying the rotation of the observed outflow cavity from HH 46/47 and the origin of the different forbidden emission line velocity components for the RU Lupi outflow.