Variability

To calculate the Stetson variability index S [5], we use the following equations:



where p is the number of band pairs (a and b) of simultaneous observations, P
i
is the product of the relative
errors !
a
and !
b
of simultaneous observations, and m


is the average of m
i
over the epochs.

Identied 362 variable objects with S > 1 Classications (according to Spitzer catalog):
Mean S = 0.375 for 4584 point sources























Classication of Variables

Periodic - 6
Applied Lomb [2] and Scargle [4] Fourier spectrum
periodogram analysis using the NStED Periodogram
Service (http://nsted.ipac.caltech.edu/periodogram/cgi-bin/Periodogram/nph-simpleupload)
Mean period of 8.07 days
Caused by cold or hot spots on the star






















Dippers - 36
Smooth pattern followed by short dip in magnitude
Most likely caused by disk obscuring part of star at that
viewing angle













Random - 320
Possibly due to random and chaotic variations in the disk
and accretion onto the star

Long term - 174
Identied 174 long-term variable objects with greater than
0.5 mag dierence from 2MASS measurements (time
period of 10 years)
15 of these objects displayed short term variability (S > 1)
Could be caused by changes in accretion rate over time or
changes in disk structure, size or density

Variability of Massive Young Stellar Objects in Cygnus-X

Nancy H. Thomas
1
, Joseph L. Hora
2
, and Howard A. Smith
2

1
University of Washington Dept. of Astronomy,
2
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics


Abstract

Young stellar objects (YSOs) are stars in the process of formation. Several recent investigations have shown a
high rate of photometric variability in YSOs at near- and mid-infrared wavelengths. Theoretical models for the
formation of massive stars (1-10 solar masses) remain highly idealized, and little is known about the
mechanisms that produce the variability. An ongoing Spitzer Space Telescope program is studying massive star
formation in the Cygnus-X region. In conjunction with the Spitzer observations, we have conducted a ground-
based near-infrared observing program of the Cygnus-X DR21 eld using PAIRITEL, the automated infrared
telescope at Whipple Observatory. Using the Stetson index for variability, we identied variable objects and a
number of variable YSOs in our time-series PAIRITEL data of DR21. We have searched for periodicity among
our variable objects using the Lomb-Scargle algorithm, and identied periodic variable objects with an average
period of 8.07 days. Characterization of these variable and periodic objects will help constrain models of star
formation present.
Observations

Space-based mid-IR component from The Cygnus-X
Legacy Project ([1], Spitzer photometry at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8,
8.0, and 24 m)




















Ground-based observational component from PAIRITEL
at the Whipple Observatory on Mt. Hopkins, Arizona
Simultaneous J (1.25 m), H (1.65 m) and K
s
(2.16 m)
lter observations
Observations of 9 elds covering DR21 obtained from 27
May 2011 to 23 June 2012
Used IRAF scripts to identify and perform photometry on
each object
Calibrated the photometry by matching to 2MASS (Two
Micron All Sky Survey Table)
Identied 9681 point sources in the DR21 eld


























Photospheres Type I
YSOs
Type II
YSOs
Transitional
disks
Not
classied
244 2 35 1 11
Future Work

Additional Spitzer observations of the DR21 eld to
characterize mid-IR variability
Continue ground-based monitoring of DR21 and other
elds in Cygnus-X
Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs)

Robitaille online SED tting tool based on a large grid of precomputed models [3]
Model parameters including stellar age, mass and luminosity
Masses from 1.3 to 7.3 M
!
and ages from 145,000 to 8,460,000 years old









Acknowledgements & References

This work is supported in part by the NSF REU and DOD
ASSURE programs under NSF grant no. 0754568 and by the
Smithsonian Institution.

[1] Hora, J. L. et al. 2011, The Cygnus X Legacy Project Data Description;
[2] Lomb, N. R. 1976, Ap. Space Sci., 39, 447; [3] Robitaille, T. P., et al.,
2007, ApJ SS, 169, 328; [4] Scargle, J. D., 1982, ApJ, 263, 835; [5] Stetson,
P. B. 1996, PASP, 108, 851.




















Figure 1: Large-scale mid-IR mosaic of DR21 obtained with
Spitzer. Composite of the IRAC I1 band at 3.6 m (blue), IRAC
I4 band at 8.0 m (green), and MIPS 24 m band (red).
Figure 8: PAIRITEL lightcurve of dipping variable
2MASS 20381280+4223584
Figure 6: PAIRITEL
lightcurve of periodic
variable 2MASS
20392050+4224085
folded for a period of
10.58 days
Figure 7: Periodogram
generated by the
NStED Periodogram
Service for PAIRITEL
H band observations of
2MASS
20392050+4224085.
This graph plots the
relative power for each
period (in days).


















Figure 2: Large-scale near-IR mosaic of DR21 assembled from
the full set of high quality individual images obtained with
PAIRITEL. Composite of the J 1.25 m (blue), H 1.65 m
(green), and K
s
2.16 m (red).
Figure 3: inverted PAIRITEL H band mosaic with
circles indicating variable sources. Red circles
indicate objects identied by PAIRITEL and blue
circles have been matched to the 2MASS catalog
Figure 4: the Stetson index value versus the mean H
magnitude for the 9681 stars with greater than 4
observations. The variability threshold of 1 is plotted in
red and is exceeded by 362 stars.























Figure 5: SED models for photosphere 2MASS
20392050+4224085 (left) and Type II YSO 2MASS
20393215+4216468 (right) from the Robitaille et
al. online SED tting tool. The lled circles show
the uxes. The black line shows the best t. The
dashed line shows the stellar photosphere
corresponding to the central source of the best
tting model.