Pulsed accretion in a variable protostar

Abstract

Periodic increases in luminosity arising from variable accretion rates have been predicted for some pre-main-sequence close binary stars as they grow from circumbinary disks. The phenomenon is known as pulsed accretion and can affect the orbital evolution and mass distribution of young binaries, as well as the potential for planet formation. Accretion variability is a common feature of young stars, with a large range of amplitudes and timescales as measured from multi-epoch observations at optical and infrared wavelengths. Periodic variations consistent with pulsed accretion have been seen in only a few young binaries via optical accretion tracers, albeit intermittently with accretion luminosity variations ranging from zero to 50 per cent from orbit to orbit. Here we report that the infrared luminosity of a young protostar (of age about 10(5) years) increases by a factor of ten in roughly one week every 25.34 days. We attribute this to pulsed accretion associated with an unseen binary companion. The strength and regularity of this accretion signal is surprising; it may be related to the very young age of the system, which is a factor of ten younger than the other pulsed accretors previously studied.