Journal
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS
Volume 754, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/754/1/L18
Keywords
accretion, accretion disks; astrochemistry; circumstellar matter; stars: formation; stars: protostars
Categories
Funding
- National Science Foundation [1008800]
- Division Of Astronomical Sciences
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien [1008800] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
We explore a set of single-point chemical models to study the fundamental chemical aspects of episodic accretion in low-mass embedded protostars. Our goal is twofold: (1) to understand how the repeated heating and cooling of the envelope affects the abundances of CO and related species; and (2) to identify chemical tracers that can be used as a novel probe of the timescales and other physical aspects of episodic accretion. We develop a set of single-point models that serve as a general prescription for how the chemical composition of a protostellar envelope is altered by episodic accretion. The main effect of each accretion burst is to drive CO ice off the grains in part of the envelope. The duration of the subsequent quiescent stage (before the next burst hits) is similar to or shorter than the freeze-out timescale of CO, allowing the chemical effects of a burst to linger long after the burst has ended. We predict that the resulting excess of gas-phase CO can be observed with single-dish or interferometer facilities as evidence of an accretion burst in the past 10(3)-10(4) yr.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available