Accurate determination of accretion and photospheric parameters in Young Stellar Objects: the case of two candidate old disks in the Orion Nebula Cluster

TL;DR

This study uses broad-band spectroscopy to accurately determine the properties and ages of young stellar objects, revealing that some apparent old ages are due to uncertainties in photometric methods, and emphasizing the importance of spectroscopic analysis.

Contribution

The paper introduces a multi-component spectroscopic fitting method to accurately derive stellar parameters and ages of accreting young stars, clarifying their true ages and properties.

Findings

Confirmed two stars are not older than typical ONC population.

Photometric parameters can be unreliable for highly accreting objects.

Spectroscopic methods improve accuracy in determining stellar ages.

Abstract

Current planet formation models are largely based on the observational constraint that protoplanetary disks have lifetime 3Myr. Recent studies, however, report the existence of PMS stars with signatures of accretion (strictly connected with the presence of circumstellar disks)and photometrically determined ages of 30 Myr, or more. Here we present a spectroscopic study of two major age outliers in the ONC. We use broad band, intermediate resolution VLT/X-Shooter spectra combined with an accurate method to determine the stellar parameters and the related age of the targets to confirm their peculiar age estimates and the presence of ongoing accretion.The analysis is based on a multi-component fitting technique, which derives simultaneously SpT, extinction, and accretion properties of the objects. With this method we confirm and quantify the ongoing accretion. From the photospheric parameters of the stars we derive their position on the HRD, and the age given by evolutionary models. Together with other age indicators like the lithium equivalent width we estimate with high accuracy the age of the objects. Our study shows that the two objects analyzed are not older than the typical population of the ONC. Our results show that, while photometric determination of the photospheric parameters are an accurate method to estimate the parameters of the bulk of young stellar populations, those of individual objects with high accretion rates and extinction may be affected by large uncertainties. Broad band spectroscopic determinations should thus be used to confirm the nature of individual objects. Our analysis shows that this method allows us to obtain an accurate determination of the photospheric parameters of accreting YSOs in any nearby star-forming region. We suggest that our detailed, broad- band spectroscopy method should be used to derive accurate properties of candidate old and accreting YSOs.