Identifying Variability in Deeply Embedded Protostars with ALMA and CARMA
arXiv:1902.00588 · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aaf972
Abstract
Variability of pre-main-sequence stars observed at optical wavelengths has been attributed tofluctuations in the mass accretion rate from the circumstellar disk onto the forming star.Detailed models of accretion disks suggest that young deeply embedded protostars should also exhibit variations in their accretion rates, and that these changes can be tracked indirectly by monitoring the response of the dust envelope at mid-IR to millimeter wavelengths. Interferometers such as ALMA offer the resolution and sensitivity to observe small fluctuations in brightness at the scale of the disk where episodic accretion may be driven. In this work, we present novel methods for comparing interferometric observations and apply them to CARMA and ALMA 1.3mm observations of deeply embedded protostars in Serpens taken 9 years apart. We find no brightness variation above the limits of our analysis of a factor of , due to the limited sensitivity of the CARMA observations and small number of sources common to both epochs. We further show that follow up ALMA observations with a similar sample size and sensitivity may be able to uncover variability at the level of a few percent, and discuss implications for future work.
21 pages, 11 figures
References in corpus (15)
- The Burst Mode of Protostellar Accretion
- An extraordinary outburst in the massive protostellar system NGC6334I-MM1: quadrupling of the millimeter continuum
- The Gould's Belt Distances Survey (GOBELINS) III. The distance to the Serpens/Aquila Molecular Complex
- Temperaments of young stars: Rapid mass-accretion rate changes in T Tauri and Herbig Ae stars
- Accretion Outbursts in Self-gravitating Protoplanetary Disks
- {Millimeter Multiplicity in NGC 6334 I and I(N)
- ALMA observations of dust polarization and molecular line emission from the Class 0 protostellar source Serpens SMM1
- HOPS 383: An Outbursting Class 0 Protostar in Orion
- Unveiling the Role of the Magnetic Field at the Smallest Scales of Star Formation
- How do stars gain their mass? A JCMT/SCUBA-2 Transient Survey of Protostars in Nearby Star Forming Regions
- The chemistry of episodic accretion in embedded objects. 2D radiation thermo-chemical models of the post-burst phase
- The JCMT Transient Survey: Detection of sub-mm variability in a Class I protostar EC 53 in Serpens Main
- Explaining the luminosity spread in young clusters: proto and pre-main sequence stellar evolution in a molecular cloud environment
- The JCMT Transient Survey: Data Reduction and Calibration Methods
- A multi-wavelength census of star formation activity in the young embedded cluster around Serpens/G3-G6