Issue |
A&A
Volume 572, December 2014
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A62 | |
Number of page(s) | 20 | |
Section | Stellar structure and evolution | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201423929 | |
Published online | 28 November 2014 |
POISSON project
III. Investigating the evolution of the mass accretion rate⋆,⋆⋆
1 INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, via di Frascati 33, 00040 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
e-mail: simone.antoniucci@oa-roma.inaf.it
2 Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany
Received: 1 April 2014
Accepted: 24 September 2014
Context. As part of the Protostellar Optical-Infrared Spectral Survey On NTT (POISSON) project, we present the results of the analysis of low-resolution near-IR spectroscopic data (0.9–2.4 μm) of two samples of young stellar objects in the Lupus (52 objects) and Serpens (17 objects) star-forming clouds, with masses in the range of 0.1 to 2.0 M⊙ and ages spanning from 105 to a few 107 yr.
Aims. After determining the accretion parameters of the targets by analysing their H i near-IR emission features, we added the results from the Lupus and Serpens clouds to those from previous regions (investigated in POISSON with the same methodology) to obtain a final catalogue (143 objects) of mass accretion rate values (Ṁacc) derived in a homogeneous and consistent fashion. Our final goal is to analyse how Ṁacc correlates with the stellar mass (M∗) and how it evolves in time in the whole POISSON sample.
Methods. We derived the accretion luminosity (Lacc) and Ṁacc for Lupus and Serpens objects from the Brγ (Paβ in a few cases) line by using relevant empirical relationships available in the literature that connect the H i line luminosity and Lacc. To minimise the biases that arise from adopting literature data that are based on different evolutionary models and also for self-consistency, we re-derived mass and age for each source of the POISSON samples using the same set of evolutionary tracks.
Results. We observe a correlation Ṁacc~ between mass accretion rate and stellar mass, similarly to what has previously been observed in several star-forming regions. We find that the time variation of Ṁacc is roughly consistent with the expected evolution of the accretion rate in viscous disks, with an asymptotic decay that behaves as t-1.6. However, Ṁacc values are characterised by a large scatter at similar ages and are on average higher than the predictions of viscous models.
Conclusions. Although part of the scattering may be related to systematics due to the employed empirical relationship and to uncertainties on the single measurements, the general distribution and decay trend of the Ṁacc points are real. These findings might be indicative of a large variation in the initial mass of the disks, of fairly different viscous laws among disks, of varying accretion regimes, and of other mechanisms that add to the dissipation of the disks, such as photo-evaporation.
Key words: stars: formation / stars: pre-main sequence / stars: evolution / infrared: stars / accretion, accretion disks
Based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory, La Silla, Chile (ESO programmes 082.C-0264 and 083.C-0650).
Tables 1–4 and Appendices are available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
© ESO, 2014
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