GASTON-GP: Source catalogue and millimetre variability of massive protostellar objects

Abstract The processes governing protostellar mass growth remain debated, although episodic accretion is now understood as a key feature of protostellar evolution across all masses. Luminosity bursts have been observed in both low- and high-mass protostars, but the overall statistics remain limited, especially for high-mass objects. Over the past decade, numerical simulations of high-mass core collapse have provided a theoretical framework for interpreting protostellar variability, yet additional observational constraints are required to determine the characteristics and importance of bursts. In this work, we analyse data from GASTON-GP programme, which mapped a 2.4 deg2 region of the Galactic plane (centred at l = 24○) at 1.15 and 2.00 mm using NIKA2 on the IRAM 30 m telescope. The survey obtained 11 epochs over four years, offering the first opportunity to study millimetre variability in a large sample of massive protostellar sources. From the combined dataset, we constructed catalogues of 2925 compact sources at 1.15 mm and 1713 at 2.00 mm. Using a dedicated relative calibration scheme, we generated millimetre light curves for 200 high-signal-to-noise sources and identified one variable candidate. However, it is not protostellar. Consequently, we report no robust detections of variable protostellar sources in GASTON field. This is the direct consequence of observational limitations (i.e., sensitivity, resolution) combined with the lack of any > 100-fold luminosity bursts during the observations, which is consistent with estimates inferred from isolated core collapse simulations. This study highlights the need for future high-resolution, high-cadence surveys to constrain the accretion histories of massive protostars.

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Publication Details

Journal
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Published
2026-03-07
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stag459
Primary Topic
Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
Type
article
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article

GASTON-GP: Source catalogue and millimetre variability of massive protostellar objects

Á. Bongiovanni, B. Ladjelate, F. Ruppin, F. Kéruzoré et al.
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
article

GASTON-GP: Source catalogue and millimetre variability of massive protostellar objects

Á. Bongiovanni, B. Ladjelate, F. Ruppin, F. Kéruzoré, N. Ponthieu, C. Hanser, Stergios Amarantidis, Ji-Xuan Zhou, O. Bourrion, I. Myserlis, F. Mayet, H. Ajeddig, V. Revéret, S. Savorgnano, M. De Petris, A. Ritacco, S. Katsioli, A. Ferragamo, R. Zylka, A. Beelen, G. Pisano, A. Paliwal, Miguel Sánchez-Portal, Peter A. R. Ade, Aurore Bacmann, Hervé Aussel, D. Chérouvrier, Quang Nguyen-Luong, R Adam, M Mu noz-Echeverría, Nicolas Peretto, S Doyle, M Calvo, K Schuster, J Bounmy, A Moyer-Anin, C Tucker, E F C Driessen, A Catalano, J Goupy, L Perotto, S Berta, A Benoît, A Monfardini, A Sievers, G Lagache, C Kramer, A Maury, S C Madden, M Béthermin, A Gomez, F-X Désert, S Leclercq, G Ejlali, A J Rigby, J F Macías-Pérez, H Roussel, P André, J-F Lestrade
article en

Abstract

Abstract The processes governing protostellar mass growth remain debated, although episodic accretion is now understood as a key feature of protostellar evolution across all masses. Luminosity bursts have been observed in both low- and high-mass protostars, but the overall statistics remain limited, especially for high-mass objects. Over the past decade, numerical simulations of high-mass core collapse have provided a theoretical framework for interpreting protostellar variability, yet additional observational constraints are required to determine the characteristics and importance of bursts. In this work, we analyse data from GASTON-GP programme, which mapped a 2.4 deg2 region of the Galactic plane (centred at l = 24○) at 1.15 and 2.00 mm using NIKA2 on the IRAM 30 m telescope. The survey obtained 11 epochs over four years, offering the first opportunity to study millimetre variability in a large sample of massive protostellar sources. From the combined dataset, we constructed catalogues of 2925 compact sources at 1.15 mm and 1713 at 2.00 mm. Using a dedicated relative calibration scheme, we generated millimetre light curves for 200 high-signal-to-noise sources and identified one variable candidate. However, it is not protostellar. Consequently, we report no robust detections of variable protostellar sources in GASTON field. This is the direct consequence of observational limitations (i.e., sensitivity, resolution) combined with the lack of any > 100-fold luminosity bursts during the observations, which is consistent with estimates inferred from isolated core collapse simulations. This study highlights the need for future high-resolution, high-cadence surveys to constrain the accretion histories of massive protostars.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (FR), Institut polytechnique de Grenoble (FR), University of Rome Tor Vergata (IT), Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ES), Argonne National Laboratory (US), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), University of Leeds (GB), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (FR), Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées (FR), Lyon College (US), Université Paris Cité (FR), Aix-Marseille Université (FR), Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (FR), Université Paris-Saclay (FR), Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (FR), Observatoire astronomique de Strasbourg (FR), Sorbonne Université (FR), Astrophysique, Instrumentation et Modélisation (FR), Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (FR), Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille (FR), Institute of Space Sciences (ES), National Observatory of Athens (GR), Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur (FR), CEA Paris-Saclay (FR), Centro de Astrobiología (ES), Institut Néel (FR), Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IR), Astronomy and Space (AU), Instituto de Radioastronomía Milimétrica (ES), Institute of Nuclear Physics of Lyon (FR), Université de Strasbourg (FR), Athens State University (US), Cardiff University (GB), Sapienza University of Rome (IT), Université Grenoble Alpes (FR), Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (NL)
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Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
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