2005/10/01 by Eduard I. Vorobyov, E. I. Vorobyov, Shantanu Basu · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · Social Sciences · #Accretion (finance) #Accretion disc #Astro and Planetary Science #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Educational Leadership and Practices #Physics #Star formation #Stars #Stellar evolution #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/498303
published as Astrophys.J.633:L137-L140,2005 · 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJL
arxiv created 2005/10/01 · openalex publication_date 2005/10/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
We study numerically the evolution of rotating cloud cores, from the collapse of a magnetically supercritical core to the formation of a protostar and the development of a protostellar disk during the main accretion phase. We find that the disk quickly becomes unstable to the development of a spiral structure similar to that observed recently in AB Aurigae. A continuous infall of matter from the protostellar envelope makes the protostellar disk unstable, leading to spiral arms and the formation of dense protostellar/protoplanetary clumps within them. The growing strength of spiral arms and ensuing redistribution of mass and angular momentum creates a strong centrifugal disbalance in the disk and triggers bursts of mass accretion during which the dense protostellar/protoplanetary clumps fall onto the central protostar. These episodes of clump infall may manifest themselves as episodes of vigorous accretion (≥10 -4 M ☉ yr -1 ), as is observed in FU Orionis variables. Between these accretion bursts, the protostar is characterized by a low accretion rate (<10 -6 M ☉ yr -1 ). During the phase of episodic accretion, the mass of the protostellar disk remains less than the mass of the protostar.