The Origin of Episodic Accretion Bursts in the Early Stages of Star Formation

We study numerically the evolution of rotating cloud cores, from the collapse of a magnetically supercritical core to the formation of a protostar and the development of a protostellar disk during the main accretion phase. We find that the disk quickly becomes unstable to the development of a spiral structure similar to that observed recently in AB Aurigae. A continuous infall of matter from the protostellar envelope makes the protostellar disk unstable, leading to spiral arms and the formation of dense protostellar/protoplanetary clumps within them. The growing strength of spiral arms and ensuing redistribution of mass and angular momentum creates a strong centrifugal disbalance in the disk and triggers bursts of mass accretion during which the dense protostellar/protoplanetary clumps fall onto the central protostar. These episodes of clump infall may manifest themselves as episodes of vigorous accretion (≥10^-4 M_☉ yr^-1), as is observed in FU Orionis variables. Between these accretion bursts, the protostar is characterized by a low accretion rate (<10^-6 M_☉ yr^-1). During the phase of episodic accretion, the mass of the protostellar disk remains less than the mass of the protostar.