The Rate, Amplitude and Duration of Outbursts from Class 0 Protostars in Orion

Abstract

At least half of a protostar's mass is accreted in the Class 0 phase, when the central protostar is deeply embedded in a dense, infalling envelope. We present the first systematic search for outbursts from Class 0 protostars in the Orion clouds. Using photometry from Spitzer/IRAC spanning 2004 to 2017, we detect three outbursts from Class 0 protostars with $\ge 2$ mag changes at 3.6 or 4.5 $\mu$m. This is comparable to the magnitude change of a known protostellar FU Ori outburst. Two are newly detected bursts from the protostars HOPS 12 and 124. The number of detections implies that Class 0 protostars burst every 438 yr, with a 95% confidence interval of 161 to 1884 yr. Combining Spitzer and WISE/NEOWISE data spanning 2004-2019, we show that the bursts persist for more than nine years with significant variability during each burst. Finally, we use $19-100$ $\mu$m photometry from SOFIA, Spitzer and Herschel to measure the amplitudes of the bursts. Based on the burst interval, a duration of 15 yr, and the range of observed amplitudes, 3-100% of the mass accretion during the Class 0 phase occurs during bursts. In total, we show that bursts from Class 0 protostars are as frequent, or even more frequent, than those from more evolved protostars. This is consistent with bursts being driven by instabilities in disks triggered by rapid mass infall. Furthermore, we find that bursts may be a significant, if not dominant, mode of mass accretion during the Class 0 phase.

Accepted to ApJL

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• Wide-angle protostellar outflows driven by narrow jets in stratified cores
• Testing a New Model of Embedded Protostellar Disks Against Observation: The Majority of Orion Class 0/I Disks Are Likely Warm, Massive, and Gravitationally Unstable
• 300: An ACA 870 $\mu$m Continuum Survey of Orion Protostars and their Evolution
• Magnetically-activated accretion outbursts of pre-main sequence discs
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• The sharpest view on the high-mass star-forming region S255IR. Near-InfraRed Adaptive Optics Imaging on the Outbursting Source NIRS3
• Accretion Burst Echoes as Probes of Protostellar Environments and Episodic Mass Assembly
• On the incidence of episodic accretion in Class I YSOs from VVV
• Photometric and Spectroscopic monitoring of YSOs in nearby star forming regions. I. Eruptive YSOs
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• Physical conditions for dust grain alignment in Class 0 protostellar cores II. The role of the radiation field in models aligning/disrupting dust grains