PTF10nvg: An Outbursting Class I Protostar in the Pelican/North American Nebula

• Main Authors: Covey, Kevin R, Hillenbrand, Lynne A, Miller, Adam A, Poznanski, Dovi, Cenko, S. Bradley, Silverman, Jeffrey M, Bloom, Joshua S, Kasliwal, Mansi M, Fischer, William, Rayner, John, Rebull, Luisa M, Butler, Nathaniel R, Filippenko, Alexei V, Law, Nicholas M, Ofek, Eran O, Agueros, Marcel, Dekany, Richard G, Rahmer, Gustavo, Hale, David, Smith, Roger, Quimby, Robert M, Nugent, Peter, Jacobsen, Janet, Zolkower, Jeff, Velur, Viswa, Walters, Richard, Henning, John, Bui, Khanh, McKenna, Dan, Kulkarni, Shrinivas R, Klein, Christopher
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 13-11-2010
• Subjects: Physics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1011.2565

During a synoptic survey of the North American Nebula region, the Palomar
Transient Factory (PTF) detected an optical outburst (dubbed PTF10nvg)
associated with the previously unstudied flat or rising spectrum infrared
source IRAS 20496+4354. The PTF R-band light curve reveals that PTF10nvg
brightened by more than 5 mag during the current outburst, rising to a peak
magnitude of R~13.5 in 2010 Sep. Follow-up observations indicate PTF10nvg has
undergone a similar ~5 mag brightening in the K band, and possesses a rich
emission-line spectrum, including numerous lines commonly assumed to trace mass
accretion and outflows. Many of these lines are blueshifted by ~175 km/s from
the North American Nebula's rest velocity, suggesting that PTF10nvg is driving
an outflow. Optical spectra of PTF10nvg show several TiO/VO bandheads fully in
emission, indicating the presence of an unusual amount of dense (> 10^10
cm^-3), warm (1500-4000 K) circumstellar material. Near-infrared spectra of
PTF10nvg appear quite similar to a spectrum of McNeil's Nebula/V1647 Ori, a
young star which has undergone several brightenings in recent decades, and
06297+1021W, a Class I protostar with a similarly rich near--infrared emission
line spectrum. While further monitoring is required to fully understand this
event, we conclude that the brightening of PTF10nvg is indicative of enhanced
accretion and outflow in this Class-I-type protostellar object, similar to the
behavior of V1647 Ori in 2004-2005.