Why are (almost) all the protostellar outflows aligned in Serpens Main?

We present deep 1.4-4.8 μm JWST-NIRCam imaging of the Serpens Main star-forming region and 12 identify 20 candidate protostellar outflows, most with bipolar structure and identified driving sources. 13 The outflow position angles (PAs) are strongly correlated, and aligned within ±24◦ of the major 14 axis of the Serpens filament. These orientations are further aligned with the angular momentum 15 vectors of the two disk shadows in this region. We estimate that the probability of this number 16 of young stars being co-aligned if sampled from a uniform PA distribution is 10−4. This in turn 17 suggests that the aligned protostars, which seem to be at similar evolutionary stages based on their 18 outflow dynamics, formed at similar times with a similar spin inherited from a local cloud filament. 19 Further, there is tentative evidence for a systematic change in average position angle between the 20 north-western and south-eastern cluster, as well as increased scatter in the PAs of the south-eastern 21 protostars. SOFIA-HAWC+ archival dust polarization observations of Serpens Main at 154 and 214 μm 22 are perpendicular to the dominant jet orientation in NW region in particular. We measure 23 and locate shock knots and edges for all of the outflows and provide an identifying catalog. We suggest 24 that Serpens main is a cluster that formed from an isolated filament, and due to its youth retains its 25 primordial outflow alignment.