EPISODIC HIGH-VELOCITY OUTFLOWS FROM V899 Mon: A CONSTRAINT ON THE OUTFLOW MECHANISMS*

We report the detection of large variations in the outflow wind velocity from a young eruptive star, V899 Mon, during its ongoing high accretion outburst phase. Such large variations in the outflow velocity (from −722 to −425 km s −1 ) have never been reported previously in this family of objects. Our continuous monitoring of this source shows that the multi-component, clumpy, and episodic high velocity outflows are stable in the timescale of a few days, and vary over the timescale of a few weeks to months. We detect significant decoupling in the instantaneous outflow strength to accretion rate. From the comparison of various possible outflow mechanisms in magnetospheric accretion of young stellar objects, we conclude magnetically driven polar winds to be the most consistent mechanism for the outflows seen in V899 Mon. The large scale fluctuations in outflow over the short period makes V899 Mon the most ideal source to constrain various magnetohydrodynamics simulations of magnetospheric accretion.