The Variation of Circumstellar Parameters through Early Stellar Evolution

Abstract: We report on the evolution of extinction, mass accretion rate, and spectral index from analysis of SpeX observations and AllWISE spectral energy distributions, compared to stellar parameters (mass, age, and veiling) derived from analysis of previously reported and newly analyzed iSHELL observations of the same young stellar objects (YSOs). By using stellar gravity as an age indicator, we are able to infer age without any assumptions about the circumstellar environment. Our sample consists of 109 Class I, II, and III YSOs. The spectral index broadly decreases with time but with sufficient scatter that Class I-III YSOs can all be found at the same age. There is a wide range of extinction (A_V) from nearly 0 to greater than 30 mag for ages up to 5 Myr, showing no clear trend with age. The mass accretion rate declines from a median of 10^-8 solar masses per year at ~1 Myr to less than 10^-10 solar masses per year at ages greater than 10 Myr, with a scatter of the mass accretion rate of +/- 1 dex. Accretion seems to effectively end by ~ 5 Myr, by which time the median mass gained is 0.05 solar masses. We find a wide range of veiling (rK) from zero to three (limited by our need to detect photospheric lines) for Class I and II YSOs, with the median veiling declining after ~2 Myr. Class I YSOs appear to be physically very similar to Class II YSOs, with similar accretion rates and overlapping age and mass distributions. There are no objects with a high spectral index and low extinction, suggesting that once starved of circumstellar material, the spectral index rapidly declines.