Unveiling the traits of MYSOs using a high-resolution, multi-scale analysis
Date:
Discs are a crucial component of the low-mass star formation process and many types of discs have been found around low-mass protostars. The transition disc [e.g. 1] is one such type and represents an evolutionary step from the young, accreting protoplanetary disc to the older debris disc when observed around low-mass stars. Massive protostars are deeply embedded and difficult to observe, and as such only a few cases of early-type Keplerian discs have been identified around O-type stars [2] [3] [4]. In this talk I will discuss our recent work [5] which infers the presence of the first observed transition disc around a massive young stellar object. By simultaneously fitting a 3D radiative transfer model to infrared interferometric data (MIDI, VLTI), a near-diffraction-limited image (VISIR, VLT) and a spectral energy distribution, we have constrained the geometry of an MYSO from ~10mas scales upwards. Our results show a that a disk is required to satisfy the interferometric data, that the inner circumstellar regions must cleared out to a radius three times the size of the dust sublimation radius, and that the MYSO is less dense than others of its class. These characteristics imply that this object may be one of the first observed examples of a transition disc phase around a massive young star, and a prime example to test theories of circumstellar disc dispersal and the end stages of accretion in massive protostars. [More information here](https://www.chalmers.se/en/conference/FSTP2/Pages/default.aspx)
