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E. I. Vorobyov

Publications and source records attributed to E. I. Vorobyov.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Infall onto the Protoplanetary Disk during the Gravitational Collapse of a Molecular Cloud

The development of models for matter infall from a collapsing molecular cloud is an essential part of numerical studies on the formation and evolution of protoplanetary disks. In this article, the widely used Nakamoto and Nakagawa (1994) model is analyzed and modifications are proposed to complement the initial model. These improvements include calculation for the outer boundary of a molecular cloud and refinement of the initial density distribution within. Also, due to the finite size of a cloud, the approach for computing the rate of mass infall onto the protoplanetary disk during collapse is modified. The proposed enhancements are aimed at eliminating the key limitations of the initial model, but do not affect its advantages, such as simplicity in numerical implementation. Using the modified model, we investigate the duration of the embedded phase of the evolution of young stellar objects and compare the modeling results with observational data. The results indicate a shorter duration of the embedded phase of the evolution of young stellar objects, especially in star-forming regions with a high amplitude of the initial density perturbation of prestellar condensation.

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Dust enrichment and growth in the earliest stages of protoplanetary disk formation

Aims. We numerically investigated dust enrichment and growth during the initial stages of protoplanetary disk formation. A particular objective was to determine the effects of various growth barriers, mimicked by imposing a series of upper permissible limits on maximum dust sizes. Methods. We used the Formation and Evolution of Stars and Disks on nested meshes (ngFEOSAD) code to simulate the three-dimensional dynamics of gas and dust under the polytropic approximation, from the gravitational collapse of a slowly rotating Bonnor-Ebert sphere to \approx 12 kyr after the first hydrostatic core and disk formation. Results. We found that dust growth begins in the contracting cloud in the evolution stage that precedes disk formation, and that the disk begins to form in an environment already enriched with grown dust. The efficiency of dust growth in the disk is limited by dust growth barriers. For dust grains with maximum sizes < 100 micron, electrostatic or bouncing barriers likely dominate, whereas fragmentation and drift barriers are more important for larger grains. The disk midplane quickly becomes enriched with dust, while the vertically integrated dust distribution shows notable local variations around the canonical 1:100 dust-to-gas mass ratio. These positive and negative deviations are likely caused by local hydrodynamic flows, as the globally integrated dust-to-gas ratio deviates negligibly from the initial 1:100 value. We note that care should be taken when using models with fixed dust sizes, as disks exhibit profound negative radial gradients in dust size even during the earliest stages of disk formation. Models with a constant Stokes number may be preferable in this context. Conclusions. Early dust enrichment and growth may facilitate planet formation, as suggested by observations of protoplanetary disk substructures.

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Effect of Dust Evaporation and Thermal Instability on Temperature Distribution in a Protoplanetary Disk

The thermal instability of accretion disks is widely used to explain the activity of cataclysmic variables, but its development in protoplanetary disks has been studied in less detail. We present a semi-analytical stationary model for calculating the midplane temperature of a gas and dust disk around a young star. The model takes into account gas and dust opacities, as well as the evaporation of dust at temperatures above 1000 K. Using this model, we calculate the midplane temperature distributions of the disk under various assumptions about the source of opacity and the presence of dust. We show that when all considered processes are taken into account, the heat balance equation in the region r<1 au has multiple temperature solutions. Thus, the conditions for thermal instability are met in this region. To illustrate the possible influence of instability on the accretion state in a protoplanetary disk, we consider a viscous disk model with alpha parameterization of turbulent viscosity. We show that in such a model the disk evolution is non-stationary, with alternating phases of accumulation of matter in the inner disk and its rapid accretion onto the star, leading to an episodic accretion pattern. These results indicate that this instability needs to be taken into account in evolutionary models of protoplanetary disks.

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What governs the spin distribution of very young < 1 Myr low mass stars

We compute the evolution and rotational periods of young stars, using the MESA code, starting from a stellar seed, and take protostellar accretion, stellar winds, and the magnetic star-disk interaction into account. Furthermore, we add a certain fraction of the energy of accreted material into the stellar interior as additional heat and combine the resulting effects on stellar evolution with the stellar spin model. For different combinations of parameters, stellar periods at an age of 1~Myr range between 0.6~days and 12.9~days. Thus, during the relatively short time period of 1~Myr, a significant amount of stellar angular momentum can already be removed by the interaction between the star and its accretion disk. The amount of additional heat added into the stellar interior, the accretion history, and the presence of disk and stellar winds have the strongest impact on the stellar spin evolution during the first million years. The slowest stellar rotations result from a combination of strong magnetic fields, a large amount of additional heat, and effective winds. The fastest rotators combine weak magnetic fields and ineffective winds or result from a small amount of additional heat added to the star. Scenarios that could lead to such configurations are discussed. Different initial rotation periods of the stellar seed, on the other hand, quickly converges and do not affect the stellar period at all. Our model matches up to 90\% of the observed rotation periods in six young ($\lesssim 3$~Myr) clusters. Based on these intriguing results, we motivate to combine our model with a hydrodynamic disk evolution code to self-consistently include several important aspects such as episodic accretion events, magnetic disk winds, internal, and external photo-evaporation. (Shortened)

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The influence of metallicity on a combined stellar and disk evolution

The effects of an accretion disk are crucial to understanding the evolution of young stars. During the combined evolution, stellar and disk parameters influence each other, motivating a combined stellar and disk model. This makes a combined numerical model, evolving the disk alongside the star, the next logical step in the progress of studying early stellar evolution. We aim to understand the effects of metallicity on the accretion disk and the stellar spin evolution during the T~Tauri phase. We combine the numerical treatment of a hydrodynamic disk with stellar evolution, including a stellar spin model, allowing a self-consistent calculation of the back-reactions between the individual components. We present the self-consistent theoretical evolution of T-Tauri stars coupled to a stellar disk. We find that disks in low metallicity environments are heated differently and have shorter lifetimes, compared to their solar metallicity counterparts. Differences in stellar radii, the contraction rate of the stellar radius, and the shorter disk lifetimes result in faster rotation of low metallicity stars. We present an additional explanation for the observed short disk lifetimes in low metallicity clusters. A combination of our model with previous studies (e.g., a metallicity-based photo-evaporation) could help to understand disk evolution and dispersal at different metallicities. Furthermore, the stellar spin evolution model includes several important effects, previously ignored (e.g., the stellar magnetic field strength and a realistic calculation of the disk lifetime) and we motivate to include our results as initial or input parameters for further spin evolution models, covering the stellar evolution towards and during the main sequence.

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The burst mode of accretion in massive star formation with stellar inertia

The burst mode of accretion in massive star formation is a scenario linking the initial gravitational collapse of parent pre-stellar cores to the properties of their gravitationally unstable discs and of their accretion-driven bursts. In this study, we present a series of high-resolution 3D radiation-hydrodynamics numerical simulations for young massive stars formed out of collapsing 100 Mo molecular cores spinning with several values of the ratio of rotational-to-gravitational energies beta=5%-9%. The models include the indirect gravitational potential caused by disc asymmetries. We find that this modifies the barycenter of the disc, causing significant excursions of the central star position, which we term stellar wobbling. The stellar wobbling slows down and protracts the development of gravitational instability in the disc, reducing the number and magnitude of the accretion-driven bursts undergone by the young massive stars, whose properties are in good agreement with that of the burst monitored from the massive protostar M17 MIR. Including stellar wobbling is therefore important for accurate modeling disc structures. Synthetic ALMA interferometric images in the millimeter waveband show that the outcomes of efficient gravitational instability such as spiral arms and gaseous clumps can be detected for as long as the disc is old enough and has already entered the burst mode of accretion.

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Time-dependent, long-term hydrodynamic simulations of the inner protoplanetary disk I: The importance of stellar magnetic torques

We conduct simulations of the inner regions of protoplanetary disks (PPDs) to investigate the effects of protostellar magnetic fields on their long-term evolution. We use an inner boundary model that incorporates the influence of a stellar magnetic field. The position of the inner disk is dependent on the mass accretion rate as well as the magnetic field strength. We use this model to study the response of a magnetically truncated inner disk to an episodic accretion event. Additionally, we vary the protostellar magnetic field strength and investigate the consequences of the magnetic field on the long-term behavior of PPDs. We use the fully implicit 1+1D TAPIR code which solves the axisymmetric hydrodynamic equations self-consistently. Our model allows us to investigate disk dynamics close to the star and to conduct long-term evolution simulations simultaneously and includes the radial radiation transport in the stationary diffusion limit. We include stellar magnetic torques, the influence of a pressure gradient, and a variable inner disk radius in the TAPIR code to describe the innermost disk region in a more self-consistent manner and can show that this approach alters the disk dynamics considerably compared to a simplified diffusive evolution equation, especially during outbursts. The influences of a prescribed stellar magnetic field, local pressure gradients, and a variable inner disk radius result in a more consistent description of the gas dynamics in the innermost regions of PPDs. Combining magnetic torques acting on the innermost disk regions with the long-term evolution of PPDs yields previously unseen results, whereby the whole disk structure is affected over its entire lifetime. Additionally, we want to emphasize that a combination of our 1+1D model with more sophisticated multi-dimensional codes could improve the understanding of PPDs even further.

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Pulsational instability of pre-main sequence models from accreting protostars. I. Constraining the input physics for accretion with spectroscopic parameters and stellar pulsations

Context: The pre-main sequence evolution is often simplified by choosing classical initial models. These have large initial radii and sufficient uniform contraction to make them fully convective. Contrary to that, real stars are born as small protostellar seeds in collapsing molecular clouds and obtain their final mass by means of accretion. Aims: We aim to constrain the input physics of accretion on protostellar seeds with observed spectroscopic parameters and stellar pulsations of young stellar objects and pre-main sequence stars. Methods: We conducted a literature search for spectroscopic samples of young stellar objects and pre-main sequence stars including all previously known pulsators. The sample size of pulsating pre-main sequence stars is increased by analysing TESS observations and presenting discoveries in CoRoT data. We employ MESA and GYRE to calculate evolutionary tracks of accreting protostellar seeds in a constant accretion scenario, the subsequent pre-main sequence evolution, and their pulsation properties. The results are then compared with observations to constrain the input physics. Results: We discuss 16 formerly unknown pulsating pre-main sequence stars and candidates that are either of SPB, $δ$ Scuti,$γ$ Doradus or $δ$ Scuti - $γ$ Doradus hybrid type. We find that evolutionary tracks with a mass accretion rate of $5\times10^{-6} M_\odot/{\rm yr}$ and fraction of injected accretion energy of $β=0.1$ provide the best results in enveloping the spectroscopic parameters of pre-main sequence stars in a constant accretion scenario. The calculated instability regions constrain the atmospheric boundary conditions to Eddington Gray atmospheres; we discuss the future potential for additional constraints by instability regions that are dependent on radial order. We present a possible candidate for pulsations in M-type young stellar objects.

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Massive compact disks around FU Orionis-type young eruptive stars revealed by ALMA

FU Orionis-type objects (FUors) are low-mass pre-main sequence stars undergoing a temporary, but significant increase of mass accretion rate from the circumstellar disk onto the protostar. It is not yet clear what triggers the accretion bursts and whether the disks of FUors are in any way different from disks of non-bursting young stellar objects. Motivated by this, we conducted a 1.3 mm continuum survey of ten FUors and FUor-like objects with ALMA, using both the 7 m array and the 12 m array in two different configurations to recover emission at the widest possible range of spatial scales. We detected all targeted sources and several nearby objects as well. To constrain the disk structure, we fit the data with models of increasing complexity from 2D Gaussian to radiative transfer, enabling comparison with other samples modeled in a similar way. The radiative transfer modeling gives disk masses that are significantly larger than what is obtained from the measured millimeter fluxes assuming optically thin emission, suggesting that the FUor disks are optically thick at this wavelength. In comparison with samples of regular Class II and Class I objects, the disks of FUors are typically a factor of 2.9-4.4 more massive and a factor of 1.5-4.7 smaller in size. A significant fraction of them (65-70%) may be gravitationally unstable.

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Restoration of the Parameters of a Gas-Dust Disk Based on Its Synthetic Images

The topic of the present study is combining a dynamic model of a protoplanetary disk with the computations of radiation transfer for obtaining synthetic spectra and disk images suitable for immediate comparison of the model with observations. Evolution of the disk was computed using the FEOSAD hydrodynamic model, which includes a self-consistent calculation of the dynamics of dust and gas in the 2D thin disk approximation. Radiation transfer was simulated by the open code RADMC-3D. Three phases of disk evolution were considered: a young gravitationally unstable disk, a disk during an accretion luminosity burst, and an evolved disk. For these stages, the influence of various processes upon the disk's thermal structure was analyzed, as well as the differences between the temperatures obtained in the initial dynamic model and in the model with a detailed calculation of the radiation transfer. It is shown that viscous heating in the inner regions and adiabatic heating in the disk spirals can be important sources of heating. On the basis of the calculated spectral energy distributions, using SED-fitter software package used for the observations, physical parameters of the model disks were reconstructed. A significant spread between reconstructed parameters and initial characteristics of the disk indicates verification necessity of the models within the framework of spatially resolved observations of disks in the different spectral ranges

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Parameter study for the burst mode of accretion in massive star formation

It is now a widely held view that, in their formation and early evolution, stars build up mass in bursts. The burst mode of star formation scenario proposes that the stars grow in mass via episodic accretion of fragments migrating from their gravitationally-unstable circumstellar discs and it naturally explains the existence of observed pre-main-sequence bursts from high mass protostars. We present a parameter study of hydrodynamical models of massive young stellar objects (MYSOs) that explores the initial masses of the collapsing clouds (Mc = 60-200Mo) and ratio of rotational-to-gravitational energies (beta = 0:005-0:33). An increase in Mc and/or beta produces protostellar accretion discs that are more prone to develop gravitational instability and to experience bursts. We find that all MYSOs have bursts even if their pre-stellar core is such that beta <= 0.01. Within our assumptions, the lack of stable discs is therefore a major difference between low- and high-mass star formation mechanisms. All our disc masses and disk-to-star mass ratios Md=M* > 1 scale as a power-law with the stellar mass. Our results confirm that massive protostars accrete about 40-60% of their mass in the burst mode. The distribution of time periods between two consecutive bursts is bimodal: there is a short duration (~ 1-10 yr) peak corresponding to the short, faintest bursts and a long duration peak (at ~ 10^3-10^4 yr) corresponding to the long, FU-Orionis-type bursts appearing in later disc evolution, i.e., around 30 kyr after disc formation. We discuss this bimodality in the context of the structure of massive protostellar jets as potential signatures of accretion burst history.

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ALMA and VLA Observations of EX Lupi in its Quiescent State

Extreme outbursts in young stars may be a common stage of pre-main-sequence stellar evolution. These outbursts, caused by enhanced accretion and accompanied by increased luminosity, can also strongly impact the evolution of the circumstellar environment. We present ALMA and VLA observations of EX Lupi, a prototypical outburst system, at 100 GHz, 45 GHz, and 15 GHz. We use these data, along with archival ALMA 232 GHz data, to fit radiative transfer models to EX Lupi's circumstellar disk in its quiescent state following the extreme outburst in 2008. The best fit models show a compact disk with a characteristic dust radius of 45 au and a total mass of 0.01 M$_{\odot}$. Our modeling suggests grain growth to sizes of at least 3 mm in the disk, possibly spurred by the recent outburst, and an ice line that has migrated inward to $0.2-0.3$ au post-outburst. At 15 GHz, we detected significant emission over the expected thermal disk emission which we attribute primarily to stellar (gyro)synchrotron and free-free disk emission. Altogether, these results highlight what may be a common impact of outbursts on the circumstellar dust.

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The effect of luminosity outbursts on the protoplanetary disk dynamics

Aims: Response of a protoplanetary disk to luminosity bursts of various duration is studied with the purpose to determine the effect of the bursts on the strength and sustainability of gravitational instability in the disk. A special emphasis is paid to the spatial distribution of gas and grown dust (from 1 mm to a few cm) during and after the burst. Methods: Numerical hydrodynamics simulations using the FEOSAD code were employed to study the dynamics of gas and dust in the thin-disk limit. Dust-to-gas friction including back reaction and dust growth were also considered. Bursts of various duration (from 100 to 500 yr) were initiated in accordance with a thermally ignited magnetorotational instability. Luminosity curves for constant- and declining-magnitude bursts were adopted to represent two typical limiting cases for FU-Orionis-type eruptions. Results: The short-term effect of the burst is to reduce the strength of gravitational instability by heating and expanding the disk. The longest bursts with duration comparable to the revolution period of the spiral can completely dissolve the original two-armed spiral pattern in the gas disk by the end of the burst, while the shortest bursts only weaken the spiral pattern. The reaction of grown dust to the burst is somewhat different. The spiral-like initial distribution with deep cavities in the inter-armed regions transforms into a ring-like distribution with deep gaps. This transformation is most expressed for the longest-duration bursts. The long-term effect of the burst depends on the initial disk conditions at the onset of the burst. In some cases, vigorous disk fragmentation sets in several thousand years after the burst, which was absent in the model without the bursts (abridged).

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Accretion bursts in low-metallicity protostellar disks

The early evolution of protostellar disks with metallicities in the $Z=1.0-0.01~Z_\odot$ range was studied with a particular emphasis on the strength of gravitational instability and the nature of protostellar accretion in low-metallicity systems. Numerical hydrodynamics simulations in the thin-disk limit were employed that feature separate gas and dust temperatures, and disk mass-loading from the infalling parental cloud cores. Models with cloud cores of similar initial mass and rotation pattern, but distinct metallicity were considered to distinguish the effect of metallicity from that of initial conditions. The early stages of disk evolution in low-metallicity models are characterized by vigorous gravitational instability and fragmentation. Disk instability is sustained by continual mass-loading from the collapsing core. The time period that is covered by this unstable stage is much shorter in the $Z=0.01~Z_\odot$ models as compared to their higher metallicity counterparts thanks to the higher mass infall rates caused by higher gas temperatures (that decouple from lower dust temperatures) in the inner parts of collapsing cores. Protostellar accretion rates are highly variable in the low-metallicity models reflecting a highly dynamical nature of the corresponding protostellar disks. The low-metallicity systems feature short, but energetic episodes of mass accretion caused by infall of inward-migrating gaseous clumps that form via gravitational fragmentation of protostellar disks. These bursts seem to be more numerous and last longer in the $Z=0.1~Z_\odot$ models in comparison to the $Z=0.01~Z_\odot$ case. Variable protostellar accretion with episodic bursts is not a particular feature of solar metallicity disks. It is also inherent to gravitationally unstable disks with metallicities up to 100 times lower than solar.

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The origin of tail-like structures around protoplanetary disks

We study the origin of tail-like structures recently detected around the disk of SU Aurigae and several FU~Orionis-type stars. Dynamic protostellar disks featuring ejections of gaseous clumps and quiescent protoplanetary disks experiencing a close encounter with an intruder star were modeled using the numerical hydrodynamics code FEOSAD. Both the gas and dust dynamics were taken into account, including dust growth and mutual friction between the gas and dust components. Only plane-of-the-disk encounters were considered. Ejected clumps produce a unique type of tail that is characterized by a bow-shock shape. Such tails originate from the supersonic motion of ejected clumps through the dense envelope that often surrounds young gravitationally unstable protostellar disks. The ejected clumps either sit at the head of the tail-like structure or disperse if their mass is insufficient to withstand the head wind of the envelope. On the other hand, close encounters with quiescent protoplanetary disks produce three types of the tail-like structure; we define these as pre-collisional, post-collisional, and spiral tails. These tails can in principle be distinguished from one another by particular features of the gas and dust flow in and around them. We find that the brown-dwarf-mass intruders do not capture circumintruder disks during the encounter, while the subsolar-mass intruders can acquire appreciable circumintruder disks with elevated dust-to-gas ratios, which can ease their observational detection. However, this is true only for prograde collisions; the retrograde intruders fail to collect appreciable amounts of gas or dust from the disk of the target. The predicted mass of dust in the model tail-like structures is higher than what was inferred for similar structures in SU~Aur, FU~Ori, and Z~CMa, making their observational detection feasible. Abridged.

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Evolution of a Viscous Protoplanetary Disk with Convectively Unstable Regions

The role of convection in the gas-dust accretion disk around a young star is studied. The evolution of a Keplerian disk is modeled using the Pringle equation, which describes the time variations of the surface density under the action of turbulent viscosity. The distributions of the density and temperature in the polar directions are computed simultaneously in the approximation that the disk is hydrostatically stable. The computations of the vertical structure of the disk take into account heating by stellar radiation, interstellar radiation, and viscous heating. The main factor governing evolution of the disk in this model is the dependence of the viscosity coefficient on the radius of the disk. The computations of this coefficient take into account the background viscosity providing the continuous accretion of the gas and the convective viscosity, which depends on the parameters of the convection at a given radius. The results of computations of the global evolution and morphology of the disk obtained in this approach are presented. It is shown that, in the adopted model, the accretion has burst-like character: after the inner part of the disk ( R < 3 AU) is filled with matter, this material is relatively fast discharged onto the star, after which the process is repeated. Our results may be useful for explaining the activity of young FU Ori and EX Lup objects. It is concluded that convection may be one of the mechanisms responsible for the non-steady pattern of accretion in protostellar disks.

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On the ALMA observability of nascent massive multiple systems formed by gravitational instability

Massive young stellar object (MYSOs) form during the collapse of high-mass pre-stellar cores, where infalling molecular material is accreted through a centrifugally-balanced accretion disc that is subject to efficient gravitational instabilities. In the resulting fragmented accretion disc of the MYSO, gaseous clumps and low-mass stellar companions can form, which will influence the future evolution of massive protostars in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. We perform dust continuum radiative transfer calculations and compute synthetic images of disc structures modelled by the gravito-radiation-hydrodynamics simulation of a forming MYSO, in order to investigate the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observability of circumstellar gaseous clumps and forming multiple systems. Both spiral arms and gaseous clumps located at ~a few 100 au from the protostar can be resolved by interferometric ALMA Cycle 7 C43-8 and C43-10 observations at band 6 (1.2 mm), using a maximal 0.015" beam angular resolution and at least 10-30 min exposure time for sources at distances of 1-2 kpc. Our study shows that substructures are observable regardless of their viewing geometry or can be inferred in the case of an edge-viewed disc. The observation probability of the clumps increases with the gradually increasing efficiency of gravitational instability at work as the disc evolves. As a consequence, large discs around MYSOs close to the zero-age-main-sequence line exhibit more substructures than at the end of the gravitational collapse. Our results motivate further observational campaigns devoted to the close surroundings of the massive protostars S255IR-NIRS3 and NGC 6334I-MM1, whose recent outbursts are a probable signature of disc fragmentation and accretion variability.

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On the episodic excursions of massive protostars in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram

Massive protostars grow and evolve under the effect of rapid accretion of circumstellar gas and dust, falling at high rates ($\ge 10^{-4}$-$10^{-3}\, \rm M_{\odot}\, \rm yr^{-1}$). This mass infall has been shown, both numerically and observationally, to be episodically interspersed by accretion of dense gaseous clumps migrating through the circumstellar disc to the protostellar surface, causing sudden accretion and luminous bursts. Using numerical gravito-radiation-hydrodynamics and stellar evolution calculations, we demonstrate that, in addition to the known bloating of massive protostars, variable episodic accretion further influences their evolutionary tracks of massive young stellar objects (MYSOs). For each accretion-driven flare, they experience rapid excursions toward more luminous, but colder regions of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. During these excursions, which can occur up to the end of the pre-main-sequence evolution, the photosphere of massive protostars can episodically release much less energetic photons and MYSOs surreptitiously adopt the same spectral type as evolved massive (supergiants) stars. Each of these evolutionary loop brings the young high-mass stars close to the forbidden Hayashi region and might make their surrounding H II regions occasionally fainter, before they recover their quiescent, pre-burst surface properties. We interpret such cold, intermittent pre-main-sequence stellar evolutionary excursions and the dipping variability of HII regions as the signature of the presence of a fragmenting circumstellar accretion disc surrounding the MYSOs. We conjecture that this mechanism might equivalently affect young stars in the intermediate-mass regime.

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