2015A&A...581A..85P

The investigation of the disk formation and jet launching mechanism in protostars is crucial to understanding the earliest stages of star and planet formation. We aim to constrain the physical and dynamical properties of the molecular jet and disk of the HH 212 protostellar system at unprecedented angular scales, exploiting the capabilities of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA). The ALMA observations of HH 212 in emission lines from sulfur-bearing molecules, SO 9₈-8₇, SO 10₁₁-10₁₀, SO₂ 8_2,6-7_1,7, are compared with simultaneous CO 3-2, SiO 8-7 data. The molecules column density and abundance are estimated using simple radiative transfer models. SO 9₈-8₇ and SO₂ 8_2,6-7_1,7 show broad velocity profiles. At systemic velocity, they probe the circumstellar gas and the cavity walls. Going from low to high blue- and red-shifted velocities the emission traces the wide-angle outflow and the fast (∼100-200km/s), collimated (∼90AU) molecular jet revealing the inner knots with timescales ≤50yr. The jet transports a mass-loss rate ≥0.2-2x10^–6M_☉/yr, implying high ejection efficiency (≥0.03-0.3). The SO and SO₂ abundances in the jet are ∼10^–7-10^–6. SO 10₁₁-10₁₀ emission is compact and shows small-scale velocity gradients, indicating that it originates partly from the rotating disk previously seen in HCO⁺ and C¹⁷O, and partly from the base of the jet. The disk mass is ≥0.002-0.013M_☉ and the SO abundance in the disk is ∼10^–8-10^–7. SO and SO₂ are effective tracers of the molecular jet in the inner few hundreds AU from the protostar. Their abundances indicate that 1-40% of sulfur is in SO and SO₂ due to shocks in the jet/outflow and/or to ambipolar diffusion at the wind base. The SO abundance in the disk is 3-4 orders of magnitude larger than in evolved protoplanetary disks. This may be due to an SO enhancement in the accretion shock at the envelope-disk interface or in spiral shocks if the disk is partly gravitationally unstable.