Diagnosing FU Ori-like Sources: The Parameter Space of Viscously Heated Disks in the Optical and Near-infrared

Abstract

Abstract FU Ori-type objects (FUors) are decades-long outbursts of accretion onto young stars that are strong enough to viscously heat disks so that the disk outshines the central star. We construct models for FUor objects by calculating emission components from a steady-state viscous accretion disk, a passively-heated dusty disk, magnetospheric accretion columns, and the stellar photosphere. We explore the parameter space of the accretion rate M ̇ and stellar mass M * to investigate implications on the optical and near-infrared spectral energy distribution and spectral lines. The models are validated by fitting to multiwavelength photometry of three confirmed FUor objects, FU Ori, V883 Ori, and HBC 722, and then comparing the predicted spectra to the observed optical and infrared spectra. The brightness ratio between the viscous disk and the stellar photosphere, η, provides an important guide for identifying viscous accretion disks, with η = 1 (“transition line”) and η = 5 (“sufficient dominance line”) marking turning points in diagnostics, evaluated here in the near-infrared. These turning points indicate the emergence and complete development of FUor-characteristic strong CO absorption, weak metallic absorption, the triangular spectral continuum shape in the H band, and location in color–magnitude diagrams. Lower M * and higher M ̇ imply larger η; for M * = 0.3 M ⊙, η = 1 corresponds to M ̇ = 2 × 10 − 7 M ⊙ yr−1 and η = 5 to M ̇ = 6 × 10 − 7 M ⊙ yr−1. The “sufficient dominance line” also coincides with the expected accretion rate where accreting material directly reaches the star. We discuss implications of the models on extinction diagnostics, FUor brightening timescales, viscous disks during initial protostellar growth, and eruptive young stellar objects associated with FUors.