Dynamics during outburst: VLTI observations of the young eruptive star V1647 Ori during its 2003-2006 outburst

TL;DR

This study uses VLTI interferometry to observe the young star V1647 Ori during its 2003-2006 outburst, revealing structural changes in its circumstellar disk and envelope linked to accretion variability and fading of the central source.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed interferometric analysis of V1647 Ori during an outburst, showing how the inner circumstellar structure evolves and relates to accretion and extinction changes.

Findings

Inner disk and envelope radii increased at outburst onset

Accretion rate varied during the outburst

Structural changes correlate with the fading central source

Abstract

Context: It is hypothesized that low-mass young stellar objects undergo eruptive phases during their early evolution. The outburst of V1647 Ori between 2003 and 2006 offered a rare opportunity to investigate such an accretion event. Aims: By means of our interferometry observing campaign during this outburst, supplemented by other observations, we investigate the temporal evolution of the inner circumstellar structure of V1647 Ori We also study the role of the changing extinction in the brightening of the object and separate it from the accretional brightening. Methods: We observed V1647 Ori with MIDI/VLTI at two epochs in this outburst. First, during the slowly fading plateau phase (2005 March) and second, just before the rapid fading of the object (2005 September), which ended the outburst. We used the radiative transfer code MC3D to fit the interferometry data and the spectral energy distributions from five different epochs at different stages of the outburst. The comparison of these models allowed us to trace structural changes in the system on AU-scales. We also considered qualitative alternatives for the interpretation of our data. Results: We found that the disk and the envelope are similar to those of non-eruptive young stars and that the accretion rate varied during the outburst. We also found evidence for the increase of the inner radii of the circumstellar disk and envelope at the beginning of the outburst. Furthermore, the change of the interferometric visibilities indicates structural changes in the circumstellar material. We test a few scenarios to interpret these data. We also speculate that the changes are caused by the fading of the central source, which is not immediately followed by the fading of the outer regions. However, if the delay in the fading of the disk is responsible for the changes seen in the MIDI data, the effect should be confirmed by dynamical modeling.