We have constructed a detailed radiative transfer disk model which reproduces
the main features of the spectrum of the outbursting young stellar object FU
Orionis from ~ 4000 angstrom, to ~ 8 micron. Using an estimated visual
extinction Av~1.5, a steady disk model with a central star mass ~0.3 Msun and a
mass accretion rate ~ 2e-4 Msun/yr, we can reproduce the spectral energy
distribution of FU Ori quite well. With the mid-infrared spectrum obtained by
the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) on board the Spitzer Space Telescope, we
estimate that the outer radius of the hot, rapidly accreting inner disk is ~ 1
AU using disk models truncated at this outer radius. Inclusion of radiation
from a cooler irradiated outer disk might reduce the outer limit of the hot
inner disk to ~ 0.5 AU. In either case, the radius is inconsistent with a pure
thermal instability model for the outburst. Our radiative transfer model
implies that the central disk temperature Tc > 1000 K out to ~ 0.5 - 1 AU,
suggesting that the magnetorotational instability (MRI) can be supported out to
that distance. Assuming that the ~ 100 yr decay timescale in brightness of FU
Ori represents the viscous timescale of the hot inner disk, we estimate the
viscosity parameter (alpha) to be ~ 0.2 - 0.02 in the outburst state,
consistent with numerical simulations of MRI in disks. The radial extent of the
high mass accretion region is inconsistent with the model of Bell & Lin, but
may be consistent with theories incorporating both gravitational instability
and MRI.Comment: 32 pages, 10 figures, to appear in the Astrophysical Journa