Nonlinear evolution of accretion disks induced by radiative feedback processes

The existence of accretion disks around young stellar objects has recently become widely accepted. The luminosity of some young stellar objects is highly variable and is generally attributed to the release of gravitational energy from matter funneled onto them by accretion disks. The inward transport of matter through these disks is coupled to the outward transfer of angular momentum. This transfer is most likely to be regulated by the mixing of adjacent annuli through the process of large-scale turbulence. Most of the accretion energy generated by this process emerges near the inner edge of the disk. This radiation may be intercepted by the disk and may modify the vertical and viscous evolution of the disk itself. If surface heating can stabilize the disk against the dominant viscous process, then in systems with large accretion rates, angular momentum transport and mass flow through the disk will be quenched. Using this result, it is shown that such a mechanism can induce feedback through the disk which produces oscillations in the luminosity of the central object. This oscillation can become chaotic in certain regimes and might thus explain the highly variable nature of many T Tauri systems and their outbursting counterparts: the FU Orionis objects.