A population of mid-infrared large-amplitude variable young stellar objects from unTimely

TL;DR

This study identifies and classifies a large sample of young stellar objects with significant infrared variability, revealing patterns in their brightness changes and eruption recurrence times related to their evolutionary stages.

Contribution

It presents a comprehensive catalog of variable YSOs from the unTimely dataset, including new classifications and insights into eruption recurrence times across different YSO stages.

Findings

Identified 641 variable YSOs with diverse variability patterns.

Discovered correlations between color changes and brightness in different YSO types.

Estimated recurrence times for FUor eruptions at various evolutionary stages.

Abstract

Utilizing a decade-long unTimely dataset, supplemented by multi-band data from archives, we search for young stellar objects (YSOs) with variations larger than one magnitude in W1 band within a region of 110 square degrees in the Galactic plane, covered by VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV). A total of 641 candidate YSOs have been identified. We classified them into bursts, dips, faders, seculars, and irregulars. Within the burst category, 18 sources were identified as FUor candidates and 1 as an EXor candidate. Irregulars are the most prevalent in the sample. In both bursts and faders, the redder sources tend to show a pattern of bluer when brighter, whereas the bluer sources display the opposite trend, possibly related to the accretion structure of YSOs at different stages. Finally, we obtained the recurrence time scale for FUor eruptions at various stages of YSO evolution. Our findings indicate that younger YSOs generally experience more frequent eruptions compared to older ones.