Pre--Main-Sequence Disk Accretion in Z Canis Majoris
Abstract
It is suggested that the pre-main-sequence object Z CMa is a luminous accretion disk, similar in many respects to the FU Orionis variables. Z CMa shows the broad, doubled optical absorption lines expected from a rapidly rotating accretion disk. The first overtone CO absorption detected in Z CMa is blue-shifted, suggesting line formation in a disk wind. Accretion at rates about 0.001 solar mass/yr over 100 yr is required to explain the luminosity of Z CMa. The large amount of material accreted (0.1 solar mass/yr) indicates that Z CMa is in a very early stage of stellar evolution, possibly in an initial phase of massive disk accretion.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- March 1989
- DOI:
- 10.1086/167252
- Bibcode:
- 1989ApJ...338.1001H
- Keywords:
-
- Accretion Disks;
- Pre-Main Sequence Stars;
- Stellar Evolution;
- Stellar Mass Accretion;
- Stellar Models;
- Infrared Astronomy;
- Stellar Luminosity;
- Stellar Spectra;
- Stellar Winds;
- Astrophysics