Investigating Protostellar Accretion (IPA) is a Cycle 1 medium GO proposal observing five protostars with the NIRSpec+MIRI IFUs. IPA targets protostars with luminosities of 0.2 to 10,000 solar luminosities and central, keplerian masses of 0.12 to 10 solar masses. These protostars are in their primary accretion phase when the majority of a star’s mass is assembled.
We present NIRSpec 2.9-5 micron data on the protostars B335, HOPS 153, HOPS 370, and IRAS 20126 protostars. The IFU data cubes show strong, accretion driven outflows that characterize this early phase of protostellar evolution. These data map the outflows in molecular hydrogen, the CO fundamental, HI, [FeII], and other molecular and fine structure lines. With spatial resolutions down to 30 au, the emission lines trace shocks in jets and along cavity walls.
We will present an inventory of the lines and their morphologies. While the shape of the outflow cavities are traced in scattered light, the interiors of the cavities show molecular hydrogen. Collimated jets are primarily visible in ionic/atomic lines and occasionally molecular hydrogen. Yet even in predominately ionic jets we find knots of molecular emission. Finally, we will discuss the implications of these features for our understanding of accretion driven outflows.