INVITED TALK Session 2 (Observations Overview)

Outflows, envelopes, and first conditions of disk formation

Mike Dunham (SUNY Fredonia, NY, USA)

Stars form from the gravitational collapse of dense molecular cloud cores. In the protostellar phase, mass both accretes from the core 
onto a protostar, likely through an accretion disk, and is ejected in the form of jets and outflows. It is during this protostellar phase that 
the initial masses of stars and the initial conditions for planet formation are set. Over the past decade, new observational capabilities 
have provided wide-field single-dish surveys of entire starforming clouds along with interferometric images at very high angular resolution, 
giving an unprecedented view of the star formation process. However, we still don't have a complete picture of how ejection, accretion, 
and disk formation and evolution work together to convert cores into stars. In this talk I will review some of the recent developments on 
outflows, cores, and disk formation, focusing on observational results aimed at better understanding the interplay between these 
processes in the formation of stars.