Hydrodynamics of Hypersonic Jets: Experiments and Numerical Simulations

Stars form in regions of the galaxy that are denser and cooler than the mean interstellar medium. These regions are called Giant Molecular Clouds. At the beginning of their life, up to 10(5)-10(6) years, stars accrete matter from their rich surrounding environment and are origin of a peculiar phenomenon that is the jet emission. Jets from Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) are intensively studied by the astrophysical community by observations at different wavelengths, analytical and numerical modeling and laboratory experiments. Indications about the jet propagation and its resulting morphologies are here obtained by means of a combined study of hypersonic jets carried out both in the laboratory and by numerical simulations.