Determine the volume affected by outflow-driven grain shattering

Determine the volume of NGC6334I affected by grain shattering from protostellar outflows and compare it with the volume affected by radiative-torque disruption during the MM1 outburst, to establish which fragmentation mechanism is more important.

Background

The paper considers both radiative-torque disruption during the MM1 accretion outburst and grain shattering caused by protostellar outflows as possible explanations for the inferred small aligned-grain sizes. Radiative-torque disruption has a short estimated timescale, whereas the spatial extent of outflow-driven shattering is not constrained. The relative importance of the two mechanisms therefore remains unresolved.

References

An alternative mechanism is grain shattering by shocks from protostellar outflows. However, the volume impacted by outflows in comparison to that of RAT-D by outburst radiation is uncertain.

— Magnetic Fields in Massive Star-forming Regions (MagMaR). XII. Radiative Torque Alignment and Disruption in NGC6334I  (2609.03458 - Rawat et al., 3 Sep 2026) in Section 5.3, “Small Grains in MM1: Inefficient Grain Growth or RAT-D by Outburst or optical depth effect?”