The origin of episodic accretion bursts in the early stages of star formation

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 (>= 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.