A Parameterized YSO Accretion Disk Model with Increasing Accretion Rate: Predicted Outburst Lightcurves

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Das, Gautam, Hillenbrand, Lynne A., Carvalho, Adolfo S.
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author Das, Gautam
Hillenbrand, Lynne A.
Carvalho, Adolfo S.
author_facet Das, Gautam
Hillenbrand, Lynne A.
Carvalho, Adolfo S.
contents A sub-class among Young Stellar Objects (YSOs), known as FU Ori type stars, undergo sudden rises in luminosity by several orders of magnitude on timescales of a few months to a few years, and decay back to quiescence on timescales of a few decades. Modelling the light curves of these objects is crucial to understanding how different components of these accretion disk systems evolve during outburst. For this purpose, we use a parametric model that couples the stellar photospheric emission, magnetospheric accretion shocks, an irradiated dust disk, and a viscously heated gas disk. We adopt time-dependent accretion rate profiles that mimic the observed morphologies of FU Ori outburst light curves, and we use the accretion model infrastructure to simulate multi-band light curves, as well as color curves. The model enables us to study how different components dominate the flux in each band over the course of an outburst, providing insight into star-magnetosphere-disk interactions throughout the outburst cycle. We find that throughout an accretion outburst, red optical and near-infrared lightcurves generally follow the same or very similar form as the input accretion profile, being sensitive to heating in the accretion shocks and inner gas disk, while mid-infrared lightcurves are more responsive to the location and heating of the innermost dust disk.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_19710
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Parameterized YSO Accretion Disk Model with Increasing Accretion Rate: Predicted Outburst Lightcurves
Das, Gautam
Hillenbrand, Lynne A.
Carvalho, Adolfo S.
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
A sub-class among Young Stellar Objects (YSOs), known as FU Ori type stars, undergo sudden rises in luminosity by several orders of magnitude on timescales of a few months to a few years, and decay back to quiescence on timescales of a few decades. Modelling the light curves of these objects is crucial to understanding how different components of these accretion disk systems evolve during outburst. For this purpose, we use a parametric model that couples the stellar photospheric emission, magnetospheric accretion shocks, an irradiated dust disk, and a viscously heated gas disk. We adopt time-dependent accretion rate profiles that mimic the observed morphologies of FU Ori outburst light curves, and we use the accretion model infrastructure to simulate multi-band light curves, as well as color curves. The model enables us to study how different components dominate the flux in each band over the course of an outburst, providing insight into star-magnetosphere-disk interactions throughout the outburst cycle. We find that throughout an accretion outburst, red optical and near-infrared lightcurves generally follow the same or very similar form as the input accretion profile, being sensitive to heating in the accretion shocks and inner gas disk, while mid-infrared lightcurves are more responsive to the location and heating of the innermost dust disk.
title A Parameterized YSO Accretion Disk Model with Increasing Accretion Rate: Predicted Outburst Lightcurves
topic Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.19710