Periodic Disk Eclipsing Stars: A New Class of Variable Young Stellar Objects
Abstract
We present the discovery of 92.6 day periodic near-infrared flu variability for the Class I T Tauri star YLW 16A. Our data are from the 2MASS Calibration Point Source Working Database and constitute 1582 observations in J, H and Ks of a field in Rho Ophiuchus used to calibrate the 2MASS All-Sky Survey. We identify a light curve that brightens from a quiescent faint state by 0.4 mag for only 20% of the period. The long period cannot be explained by stellar rotation. We propose that YLW 16A is a triple YSO system, with an inner binary orbital period of 92.6 days. We postulate that we are observing a component of the binary being eclipsed by a circumbinary disk with respect to our line of site. YLW 16A joins WL 4 and KH-15D as a third member of a new class of disk-eclipsing young stars. Both YLW 16A and WL 4 have been identified to have tertiary companions with projected separations of 20--50 AU. We propose that the tertiary companion can warp the inner circumbinary disk to produce the disk eclipses. We present NIRSPEC observations of WL 4 that suggest three distinct radial velocity components, and present a model SED for YLW 16A. These systems will be useful in investigating terrestrial-zone YSO disk properties and dynamics at 1 Myr.
- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #215
- Pub Date:
- January 2010
- Bibcode:
- 2010AAS...21542906P