scholarly journals T Tauri stars: from mystery to magnetospheric accretion

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (S243) ◽  
pp. 13-22
Author(s):  
Gibor Basri

AbstractThis is a selective historical overview of the progess in understanding T Tauri spectra. Originally they were understood to be very young, but the physical conditions (or even geometry) of the material on the star and in its surroundings were mysterious. The origin and meaning of the emission lines was largely unknown. Today we have a detailed consensus of what is happening near and on these newly forming stars. They are very magnetically active, and the stellar field is strong and extensive enough to control both the final accretion onto the star and the launching of outflows which solve the angular momentum problem during formation. Much of this consensus has emerged from spectral information, but much remains to be learned. I highlight some of the seminal breakthroughs that have led to the current picture. There are very complex and time-variable components to the entire physical system that constitutes a T Tauri star, and spectral information at various wavelengths and resolutions is crucial to making further progress.

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (S243) ◽  
pp. 71-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia H. P. Alencar

AbstractMagnetospheric accretion models are the current consensus to explain the main observed characteristics of classical T Tauri stars. In recent years the concept of a static magnetosphere has been challenged by synoptic studies of classical T Tauri stars that show strong evidence for the accretion process to be dynamic on several timescales and governed by changes in the magnetic field configuration. At the same time numerical simulation results predict evolving funnel flows due to the interaction between the stellar magnetosphere and the inner disk region. In this contribution we will focus on the main recent observational evidences for time variable funnel flows and compare them with model predictions.


2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (S243) ◽  
pp. 95-102
Author(s):  
Jeffrey S. Bary ◽  
Sean P. Matt

AbstractHydrogen emission lines observed from T Tauri stars (TTS) are associated with the accretion/outflow of gas in these young star forming systems. Magnetospheric accretion models have been moderately successful at reproducing the shapes of several Hi emission line profiles, suggesting that the emission arises in the accretion funnels. Despite considerable effort to model and observe these emission features, the physical conditions of the gas confined to the funnel flows remain poorly constrained by observation. We conducted a mutli-epoch near-infrared spectroscopic survey of 16 actively accreting classical TTS in the Taurus-Auriga star forming region. We present an analysis of these simultaneously acquired line flux ratios of many Paschen and Brackett series emission lines, in which we compare the observed ratios to those predicted by the Case B approximation of hydrogen recombination line theory. We find that the line flux ratios for the Paschen and Brackett decrements as well as a comparison between Brγ and Paschen transitions agree well with the Case B models with T < 5000 K and ne ≈ 1010 cm−3.


1998 ◽  
Vol 492 (2) ◽  
pp. 743-753 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Muzerolle ◽  
Nuria Calvet ◽  
Lee Hartmann

1997 ◽  
Vol 182 ◽  
pp. 63-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Solf

High-resolution long-slit spectroscopy of forbidden emission lines is used to investigate on a sub-arcsecond scale the spatial and kinematic properties and the physical conditions of the mass outflows from T Tauri stars in the immediate vicinity of the outflow source (microjets). Special attention is given to the case of DG Tau. The data permit us to distinguish physically different outflow components: (1) a high-velocity component (HVC) attributed to a fast jet, (2) a low-velocity component (LVC) attributed to gas entrained by the jet, and (3) a near-rest-velocity component (NRVC) attributed to a slow disk wind and/or disk corona.


2010 ◽  
Vol 522 ◽  
pp. A104 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. H. R. A. Lima ◽  
S. H. P. Alencar ◽  
N. Calvet ◽  
L. Hartmann ◽  
J. Muzerolle

1974 ◽  
Vol 60 ◽  
pp. 301-302
Author(s):  
L. E. B. Johansson ◽  
B. Höglund ◽  
A. Winnberg ◽  
Nguyen-Q-Rieu ◽  
W. M. Goss

Narrow OH emission lines at 1667 MHz, apparently from a Class I source, have been observed near the reflection nebula NGC 2071. The region contains many T Tauri stars. OH emission corresponding to the dust cloud north and east of NGC 2024 is also seen. At 1720 MHz the dust cloud component appears in absorption; presumably the isotropic 2.7 K cosmic background is being absorbed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (A30) ◽  
pp. 123-123
Author(s):  
Markus Schöller ◽  
Swetlana Hubrig

AbstractModels of magnetically driven accretion reproduce many observational properties of T Tauri stars. For the more massive Herbig Ae/Be stars, the corresponding picture has been questioned lately, in part driven by the fact that their magnetic fields are typically one order of magnitude weaker. Indeed, the search for magnetic fields in Herbig Ae/Be stars has been quite time consuming, with a detection rate of about 10% (e.g. Alecian et al. 2008), also limited by the current potential to detect weak magnetic fields. Over the last two decades, magnetic fields were found in about twenty objects (Hubrig et al. 2015) and for only two Herbig Ae/Be stars was the magnetic field geometry constrained. Ababakr, Oudmaijer & Vink (2017) studied magnetospheric accretion in 56 Herbig Ae/Be stars and found that the behavior of Herbig Ae stars is similar to T Tauri stars, while Herbig Be stars earlier than B7/B8 are clearly different. The origin of the magnetic fields in Herbig Ae/Be stars is still under debate. Potential scenarios include the concentration of the interstellar magnetic field under magnetic flux conservation, pre-main-sequence dynamos during convective phases, mergers, or common envelope developments. The next step in this line of research will be a dedicated observing campaign to monitor about two dozen HAeBes over their rotation cycle.


1977 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 66-71
Author(s):  
H. Mauder

During a photographic survey of the Chamaeleon T association in 1971/1972, evidence was found for quasiperiodic light changes of three variable stars, see Mauder and Sosna (1975). The period of 6.2 days for SY Cha is well seen, the periods of 7 days for VZ Cha and of 8 days for TW Cha are less pronounced. Intrinsic variations are present in addition to the cyclic variations. The three stars were classified by Hoffmeister (1963) as T Tauri type stars from their light variations. Objective prism spectra obtained by Henize and Mendoza (1973) confirm this classification, they found conspicuous emission lines. For SY Cha and TW Cha they got slit spectra, too, which show the typical veiling. The stars SY Cha, TW Cha and VZ Cha have been observed in the UBV system from 1974 March 12 until 1974 March 22, using the ESO standard photometer. In Figures 1 - 3 the light and colour curves are given for SY Cha, TH Cha and VZ Cha. Each point is a mean of generally 8 to 12 integrations, each integration lasting 5 seconds.


2002 ◽  
Vol 573 (2) ◽  
pp. 685-698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher M. Johns‐Krull ◽  
April D. Gafford

2018 ◽  
Vol 483 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
P P Petrov ◽  
K N Grankin ◽  
J F Gameiro ◽  
S A Artemenko ◽  
E V Babina ◽  
...  

Abstract Classical T Tauri stars with ages of less than 10 Myr possess accretion discs. Magnetohydrodynamic processes at the boundary between the disc and the stellar magnetosphere control the accretion and ejections gas flows. We carried out a long series of simultaneous spectroscopic and photometric observations of the classical T Tauri stars, RY Tauri and SU Aurigae, with the aim to quantify the accretion and outflow dynamics at time-scales from days to years. It is shown that dust in the disc wind is the main source of photometric variability of these stars. In RY Tau, we observed a new effect: during events of enhanced outflow, the circumstellar extinction becomes lower. The characteristic time of changes in outflow velocity and stellar brightness indicates that the obscuring dust is near the star. The outflow activity in both stars is changing on a time-scale of years. Periods of quiescence in the variability of the Hα profile were observed during the 2015–2016 period in RY Tau and during the 2016–2017 period in SU Aur. We interpret these findings in the framework of the magnetospheric accretion model, and we discuss how the global stellar magnetic field can influence the long-term variations of the outflow activity.


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