Three-dimensional SPH Simulations of FU Orionis Star Flares in the Clumpy Accretion Model

One of the early hypotheses about the origin of FU Orionis star (FUORs) outbursts explains them based on the fall of gas clumps from the remnants of protostellar clouds onto protoplanetary disks surrounding young stars. To calculate the consequences of such an event, we make 3D hydrodynamic simulations using the smoothed particle hydrodynamics method. It is shown that the fall of the clump on the disk in the vicinity of the star actually causes a burst of the star’s accretion activity, resembling in its characteristics the flares of known FUORs. In the region of incidence, an inhomogeneous gas ring is formed, which is inclined relative to the outer disk. During several revolutions around the star, this ring combines with the inner disk and forms a tilted disk. In the process of evolution, the inner disk expands, and its inclination relative to the outer disk decreases. After 100 revolutions, the angle of inclination is a few degrees. This result is of interest in connection with the discovery in recent years of protoplanetary disks, the inner region of which is inclined relative to the outer one. Such structures are usually associated with the existence in the vicinity of a star of a massive body (planet or brown dwarf), whose orbit is inclined relative to the plane of the disk. The results of our modeling indicate the possibility of an alternative explanation for this phenomenon.