Accretion rate onto the star of mass M_* = 5 M_⊙ (top panel), M_* = 10 M_⊙ (middle panel), and M_* = 20 M_⊙ (bottom panel) during TI bursts for three different values of Ṁ_dep–3 × 10⁻⁵ M_⊙ yr⁻¹ (blue line), 10⁻⁴ M_⊙ yr⁻¹ (black line), and 3 × 10⁻⁴ M_⊙ yr⁻¹ (red line). The horizontal black dashed line shows the Ṁ_th value for each stellar mass calculated with Eq. (8). The accretion rate variability below the dashed line (shaded region) is unlikely to be observable. The horizontal dotted lines show the Ṁ_dep for each model with the corresponding colour. The time instance t = 0 in all panels of the figure is arbitrary.