Abstract

Contributed Talk - Splinter StarFormation

Investigation of periodic maser outbursts in young stars with SOFIA

Christian Andreas
Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg

In recent years, accretion bursts of massive young stellar objects (MYSOs) were identified, that point towards the presence of circumstellar disks. At infrared wavelengths, the associated radiation may trigger flares of Class II methanol masers, which opens a new window to decipher the complex variability pattern in protostellar accretion. In this talk I will present both the results of far IR measurements with the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) as well time-dependent radiative transfer simulations in two MYSOs, which exhibit periodic maser emissions. Among others, possible explanations for these periodic masers comprise cyclic accretion events due to a stellar or substellar companion as well as intrinsic pulsations of the MYSOs.