* Astronomy

Title: Mid- and Far-Infrared Variability of PV Cep
Author: Dario Lorenzetti, Simone Antoniucci, Teresa Giannini, Gianluca Li Causi, Andrea Di Paola, Arkady A. Arkharov, Valeri M. Larionov

We present the collection of all the mid- and far-IR observations (3-170 um) of the young eruptive variable PV Cep available so far in the literature. These data allow us to confirm that flux variability is a prominent feature at mid-IR wavelength (3-25 um). Color-magnitude plots clearly indicate that the observed variability is not extinction-driven, but mainly influenced by fluctuations of the mass accretion rate. We interpret such variability as due to a hot spot created onto the stellar surface by the column of accreting matter, which heats the inner parts of the disk and determines the observed increase of the near- mid-IR luminosity. A quantitative characterisation is given for both the spot itself and the additional thermal component created by it. Far-IR data (60-170 um) are consistent with the presence of a temperature stratification in a massive and quite un-evolved circumstellar disk.

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