X-rays from FU Orionis Stars

FU Orionis objects (FUors) are a remarkable class of lowmass premainsequencestars that undergo dramatic optical outbursts attributed to an increase of theaccretion rate onto the star. Little is known about their Xray properties butwe have recently obtained first detections of unusual Xray emission from theprototype FU Ori and hard Xrays from the FUor 1735 Cyg. We propose here toobserve five additional FUors with EPIC, of which two are classical FUors withhistorical outbursts (V346 Nor, Reipurt50N) and three are spectroscopic FUorswhich may be outburst precursors. These observations will double the number ofFUors observed in Xrays and provide a larger sample needed to reliablydetermine the Xray properties of the class and identify emission mechanisms. truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]