Simultaneous monitoring of the photometric and polarimetric activity of the young star PV Cep in the optical/near-infrared bands

Abstract

We present the results of a simultaneous monitoring, lasting more than 2 years, of the optical and near-infrared photometric and polarimetric activity of the variable protostar PV Cep. During the monitoring period, an outburst has occurred in all the photometric bands, whose declining phase ($\Delta$J $\approx$ 3 mag) lasted about 120 days. A time lag of $\sim$ 30 days between optical and infrared light curves has been measured and interpreted in the framework of an accretion event. This latter is directly recognizable in the significant variations of the near-infrared colors, that appear bluer in the outburst phase, when the star dominates the emission, and redder in declining phase, when the disk emission prevails. All the observational data have been combined to derive a coherent picture of the complex morphology of the whole PV Cep system, that, in addition to the star and the accretion disk, is composed also by a variable biconical nebula. In particular, the mutual interaction between all these components is the cause of the high value of the polarization ($\approx$ 20%) and of its fluctuations. The observational data concur to indicate that PV Cep is not a genuine EXor star, but rather a more complex object; moreover the case of PV Cep leads to argue about the classification of other recently discovered young sources in outburst, that have been considered, maybe over-simplifying, as EXor.

Accepted for publication on ApJ

References in corpus (6)

• The Evolution of the Multiplicity of Embedded Protostars I: Sample Properties and Binary Detections
• Infrared Nebulae Around Young Stellar Objects
• Evidence for T Tauri-like emission in the EXor V1118 Ori from near-IR and X-ray data
• Aperture Synthesis Imaging of V892 Tau and PV Cep: Disk Evolution
• A Photometrically and Morphologically Variable Infrared Nebula in L483
• Optical and infrared properties of V1647 Orionis during the 2003-2006 outburst. I The reflection nebula

Cited by in corpus (14)

• On the nature of the EXor accretion events: an unfrequent manifestation of a common phenomenology ?
• Mid-Infrared Spectral Variability Atlas of Young Stellar Objects
• Gaia 19ajj: A Young Star Brightening Due to Enhanced Accretion + Reduced Extinction
• The New EXor Outburst of ESO-H-alpha~99 observed by Gaia ATLAS and TESS
• LBT/LUCIFER near-infrared spectroscopy of PV Cephei. An outbursting young stellar object with an asymmetric jet
• Parsec-scale jets driven by high-mass young stellar objects. Connecting the au- and the parsec-scale jet in IRAS 13481-6124
• EXORCISM: a spectroscopic survey of young eruptive variables (EXor and candidates)
• Interpreting the simultaneous variability of near-IR continuum and line emission in young stellar objects
• Investigation of Rocket Effect in BRC 18 using Gaia EDR3
• The Enigma of Gaia18cjb: a Rare Hybrid of FUor and EXor?
• PV Cep and V350 Cep: stars on the way between FUors AND EXors
• Star formation around three co-moving HAeBe stars in the Cepheus Flare
• Mirror, mirror on the outflow cavity wall. Near-infrared CO overtone disc emission of the high-mass YSO IRAS 11101-5829
• Mid- and Far-Infrared Variability of PV Cep