Modeling the Multiwavelength Evolution of the V960 Mon System

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the 8-year multi-wavelength photometric and spectrophotometric data of the FU Ori object V960 Mon, revealing that its fading is due to decreasing inner disk temperature caused by reduced accretion and expanding disk radius.

Contribution

It introduces a disk atmosphere model that explains the observed photometric and spectral variations during the system's evolution.

Findings

Fading driven by decreasing inner disk temperature.

Decrease in accretion rate and increase in disk radius as causes.

Model successfully reproduces multi-band photometry variations.

Abstract

We study the evolution of the FU Ori object V960 Mon since its outburst, using available multi-wavelength photometric time series over 8 years, complemented by several epochs of moderate-dispersion spectrophotometry. We find that the source fading can be well-described by a decrease in the temperature of the inner disk, which results from a combination of decreasing accretion rate and increasing inner disk radius. We model the system with a disk atmosphere model that produces the observed variations in multi-band photometry (this paper) and high resolution spectral lines (a companion paper).