Flickering in FU Orionis
Astrophysics
2009-10-31 v1
Abstract
We analyze new and published optical photometric data of FU Orionis, an eruptive pre-main sequence star. The outburst consists of a 5.5 mag rise at B with an e-folding timescale of roughly 50 days. The rates of decline at B and V are identical, 0.015 +- 0.001 mag per yr. Random fluctuations superimposed on this decline have an amplitude of 0.035 +- 0.005 mag at V and occur on timescales of 1 day or less. Correlations between V and the color indices U-B, B-V, and V-R indicate that the variable source has the optical colors of a G0 supergiant. We associate this behavior with small amplitude flickering of the inner accretion disk.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/9910431,
title = {Flickering in FU Orionis},
author = {Scott J. Kenyon and E. A. Kolotilov and M. A. Ibragimov and J. A. Mattei},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/9910431},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
19 pages of text, 3 tables, and 6 figures to be published in the Astrophysical Journal, 10 March 2000