Alfven Waves in Disks, Outflows and Jets

Abstract

Observations of young stellar objects, such as classical T Tauri stars (CTTSs), show evidence of accretion disks (ADs), outflows and jets. It is shown that Alfven waves (AWs) are important in all of these phenomena. AWs can be created by turbulence in the AD and magnetosphere of a CTTS. Jets, stellar outflows, and the heating of the central regions of ADs may be due to the damping of AWs. Our recent investigations of the heating of the AD and the magnetosphere by AWs as well as of the structures produced in outflows from ADs initiated by turbulent AWs, are discussed. We comment on the possible importance of AWs in resolving the energy and angular momentum problems of CTTSs.