The nested morphology of disk winds from young stars revealed by JWST/NIRSpec observations

Radially extended disk winds could be the key to unlocking how protoplanetary disks accrete and how planets form and migrate. A distinctive characteristic is their nested morphology of velocity and chemistry. Here we report James Webb Space Telescope near-infrared spectrograph spectro-imaging of four young stars with edge-on disks, three of which have already dispersed their natal envelopes. For each source, a fast collimated jet traced by [Fe ii] is nested inside a hollow cavity within wider lower-velocity H2. In one case, a hollow structure is also seen in CO ro-vibrational (v = 1 -> 0) emission but with a wider opening angle than the H2, and both of those are nested inside an Atacama Large Millimeter Array CO (J = 2 -> 1) cone with an even wider opening angle. This nested morphology, even for sources with no envelope, strongly supports theoretical predictions for wind-driven accretion and underscores the need for theoretical work to assess the role of winds in the formation and evolution of planetary systems.JWST observations of outflows from four young stars reveal in each case a molecular wind with a central cavity surrounding a fast jet. These results point to disk winds driving accretion, with implications for planet formation and evolution.