https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202226500042
Tracing episodic accretion with NOEMA: FU Orionis-type stars and their millimeter environment
1 Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique, 38400 Saint-Martin-d’Hères, 300 Rue de la Piscine, Grenoble, France
2 Konkoly Observatory, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1121 Budapest, Konkoly Thege Miklós út, 15-17, Hungary
3 Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
4 Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Niels Bohrweg 2, 2333 CA Leiden, The Netherlands
5 Niels Bohr International Academy, The Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 17, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
* e-mail: feher@iram.fr
Published online: 7 September 2022
The earliest phases of star formation are characterised by intense mass accretion from the circumstellar disk to the central star. One group of lowmass young stellar objects, FU Orionis-type stars (FUors) exhibit accretion rate peaks accompanied by bright eruptions in the optical and infrared regime. The occurance of these outbursts might solve the luminosity problem of protostars, play a key role in accumulating the final stellar mass, and have a significant effiect on the parameters of the envelope and the disk. We are performing a systematic investigation of FUors with millimeter interferometry using NOEMA and ALMA to study the outburst events and examine whether FUors represent normal young stars in exceptional times or are unusual objects. The targeted FUors show very diverse circumstellar morphologies with envelope parameters similar to those of both Class I and Class II systems, but their disks are more massive and more compact than T Tauri disks. To shed light onto the process of disk-formation, accretion, and to what role FUors play in low-mass starformation, we require the identification and light curve monitoring of as many of these stars as possible, together with the multi-wavelength and multi-scale mapping of their circumstellar environment.
© The Authors, Published by EDP Sciences, 2022
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).