Spots, flares, accretion, and obscuration in the pre-main sequence binary DQ Tau
Á. Kóspál, P. Ábrahám, G. Zsidi, K. Vida, R. Szabó, A. Moór, A. Pál
备注：
2 pages, 1 figure, published in "Origins: From the Protosun to the First Steps of Life. Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, Volume 345"
发表信息：
Origins: From the Protosun to the First Steps of Life. Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, Volume 345, pp. 314-315 (2020)
DQ Tau is a young low-mass spectroscopic binary, consisting of two almost equal-mass stars on a 15.8 day period surrounded by a circumbinary disk. We analyzed DQ Tau's light curves obtained by Kepler K2, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and ground-based facilities. We observed variability phenomena, including rotational modulation by stellar spots, energetic stellar flares, brightening events around periastron due to increased accretion, and short dips due to temporary circumstellar obscuration. The study on DQ Tau will help in discovering and understanding the formation and evolution of other real-world examples of "Tatooine-like" systems. This is especially important because more and more evidence points to the possibility that all Sun-like stars were born in binary or multiple systems that broke up later due to dynamical interactions.
DQ Tau is a young low-mass spectroscopic binary, consisting of two almost equal-mass stars on a 15.8 d period surrounded by a circumbinary disk. Here, we analyze DQ Tau's light curves obtained by Kepler K2, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and ground-based facilities. We observed variability phenomena, including rotational modulation by stellar spots, brief brightening events due to stellar flares, long brightening events around periastron due to increased accretion, and short dips due to brief circumstellar obscuration. The rotational modulation appears as sinusoidal variation with a period of 3.…
Context. RV Tauri-type variables are pulsating post-AGB stars that evolve rapidly through the instability strip after leaving the Asymptotic Giant Branch. Their light variability is dominated by radial pulsations. Members of the RVb subclass show an additional variability in form of a long-term modulation of the mean brightness, for which the most popular theories all assume binarity and some kind of circumstellar dust. Here we address if the amplitude modulations are consistent with the dust obscuration model. Aims. We measure and interpret the overall changes of the mean amplitude of the pul…
The Kepler light curve of DF Cyg is unparalleled in precision and cadence for any RV Tau star to date spanning a baseline of $\sim$4 years and clearly displaying the signature pulsating behavior of alternating deep and shallow minima as well as the long-term trend indicative of an RVb-type variable. We measured DF Cyg's formal period (the time interval between two successive deep minima) to be $~49.84 \pm 0.02~$days. The trend in the arrival times emulates that of the long-term period. There appears to be precisely 16 deep+shallow minima cycles in one long-term cycle, suggesting a long-term cy…
We report optical (6150 Ang) and K-band (2.3 micron) radial velocities obtained over two years for the pre-main sequence weak-lined T Tauri star Hubble I 4. We detect periodic and near-sinusoidal radial velocity variations at both wavelengths, with a semi-amplitude of 1395\pm94 m/s in the optical and 365\pm80 m/s in the infrared. The lower velocity amplitude at the longer wavelength, combined with bisector analysis and spot modeling, indicates that there are large, cool spots on the stellar surface that are causing the radial velocity modulation. The radial velocities maintain phase coherence …
We report the results of optical spectroscopic monitoring observations of a T Tauri star, V409 Tau. A previous photometric study indicated that this star experienced dimming events due to the obscuration of light from the central star with a distorted circumstellar disk. We conducted medium-resolution (R ~10,000) spectroscopic observations with 2-m Nayuta telescope at Nishi-Harima Astronomical Observatory. Spectra were obtained in 18 nights between November 2015 and March 2016. Several absorption lines such as Ca I and Li, and the H alpha emission line were confirmed in the spectra. The Ic-ban…
The ~2 Myr old classical T Tauri star CI Tau shows periodic variability in its radial velocity (RV) variations measured at infrared (IR) and optical wavelengths. We find that these observations are consistent with a massive planet in a ~9-day period orbit. These results are based on 71 IR RV measurements of this system obtained over 5 years, and on 26 optical RV measurements obtained over 9 years. CI Tau was also observed photometrically in the optical on 34 nights over ~one month in 2012. The optical RV data alone are inadequate to identify an orbital period, likely the result of star spot an…
The space telescope CoRoT has provided light curves of T Tauri stars belonging to the star-forming region of NGC 2264 with unprecedented continuity and precision in the framework of a coordinated multi-wavelength observational project. We perform spot modelling of the optical light curves of five weak-line T Tauri stars whose variability is dominated by starspots. We apply two-spot and evolving single spot models in the framework of a Bayesian Monte Carlo Markov Chain approach to derive the a posteriori distribution of the starspot parameters and the inclination of the star rotation axis. We f…
Continuous photometric observations of five young stars obtained by the MOST satellite in 2009 and 2010 in the Taurus and Lupus star formation regions are presented. Using light curve modelling under the assumption of internal invariability of spots, we obtained small values of the solar-type differential-rotation parameter (k=0.0005-0.009) for three spotted weak-line T Tau stars, V410 Tau, V987 Tau and Lupus 3-14; for another spotted WTTS, Lupus 3-48, the data are consistent with a rigidly rotating surface (k=0). Three flares of similar rise (4 min 30 sec) and decay (1 h 45 min) times were de…
We report the detection of an anomalous accretion flare in the tight eccentric pre-main-sequence binary system DQ Tau. In a multi-epoch survey consisting of randomly acquired low to moderate resolution near-infrared spectra obtained over a period of almost ten years, we detect a significant and simultaneous brightening of four standard accretion indicators (CaII infrared triplet, the Paschen and Brackett series HI lines, and HeI 1.083 um), on back-to-back nights (phase = 0.372, 0.433) with the flare increasing in strength as the system approached apastron (phase = 0.5). The mass accretion rate…
We present new brightness and magnetic images of the weak-line T Tauri star V410 Tau, made using data from the NARVAL spectropolarimeter at Telescope Bernard Lyot (TBL). The brightness image shows a large polar spot and significant spot coverage at lower latitudes. The magnetic maps show a field that is predominantly dipolar and non-axisymmetric with a strong azimuthal component. The field is 50% poloidal and 50% toroidal, and there is very little differential rotation apparent from the magnetic images. A photometric monitoring campaign on this star has previously revealed V-band variability o…
V1184 Tau (CB 34V) lies in the field of the Bok globule CB 34 and was discovered as a large amplitude variable in 1993. According to the first hypothesis of the variability of the star, it is a FU Orionis candidate erupted between 1951 and 1993. During subsequent observations, the star manifests large amplitude variability interpreted as obscuration from circumstellar clouds of dust. We included V1184 Tau (CB 34V) in our target list of highly variable pre-main-sequence stars to determine the reasons for the variations in the brightness of this object. Data from BVRI photometric observations of…
KRONOS II: Solar-like Umbra and Penumbra Properties on the Young Sun V1298~Tau
Michigan State University（密歇根州立大学）；Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院）；Arizona State University（亚利桑那州立大学）；Vanderbilt University（范德堡大学）；Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA)（马克斯·普朗克天文学研究所）；National Astronomical Observatory of Japan（日本国立天文台）
利用 JWST NIRISS/SOSS 掩星观测年轻行星 V1298 Tau bcd，通过星食事件光谱分析，发现宿主星 V1298~Tau 的黑子具有类似太阳的本影和半影结构，温度分别为 3265-3436 K 和 4388-4659 K，且本影面积占比约 30%。
The magnetic field of the classical T Tauri star BP Tau can be approximated as a superposition of dipole and octupole moments with respective strengths of the polar magnetic fields of 1.2 kG and 1.6 kG (Donati et al. 2008). We adopt the measured properties of BP Tau and model the disc accretion onto the star. We observed in simulations that the disc is disrupted by the dipole component and matter flows towards the star in two funnel streams which form two accretion spots below the dipole magnetic poles. The octupolar component becomes dynamically important very close to the star and it redirec…
Results of measurements of the longitudinal magnetic field in a hot accretion spot in three classical T Tauri stars (CTTS) are presented. The magnetic field in the formation region of the narrow component of the emission line HeI 5876 Å was found for each star in our sample at a level of more than 2σ. In case of DS Tau we have found the field in the narrow components of NaI D lines, which was equal to +0.8 \pm 0.3 kG, i.e. it was equal to the field measured on the narrow component of HeI 5876 Å. Our results indicate that the magnetic field in the hot spots can be studied for CTTS down to 13^m …
FU Tau A is a young very low mass object in the Taurus star forming region which was previously found to have strong X-ray emission and to be anomalously bright for its spectral type. In this study we discuss these characteristics using new information from quasi-simultaneous photometric and spectroscopic monitoring. From photometric time series obtained with the 2.2m telescope on Calar Alto we measure a period of ~4d for FU Tau A, most likely the rotation period. The short-term variations over a few days are consistent with the rotational modulation of the flux by cool, magnetically induced s…
We analyze the photometric and spectroscopic variability of the classical T Tauri star V2129 Oph over several rotational cycles to test the dynamical predictions of magnetospheric accretion models. The photometric variability and the radial velocity variations in the photospheric lines can be explained by rotational modulation due to cold spots, while the radial velocity variations of the He I (5876 Å) line and the veiling variability are due to hot spot rotational modulation. The hot and cold spots are located at high latitudes and about the same phase, but the hot spot is expected to sit at …
The magnetic field of the classical T Tauri star V2129 Oph can be modeled approximately by superposing slightly tilted dipole and octupole moments, with polar magnetic field strengths of 0.35kG and 1.2kG respectively (Donati et al. 2007). Here we construct a numerical model of V2129 Oph incorporating this result and simulate accretion onto the star. Simulations show that the disk is truncated by the dipole component and matter flows towards the star in two funnel streams. Closer to the star, the flow is redirected by the octupolar component, with some of the matter flowing towards the high-lat…
Variability of Classical T Tauri Systems (CTTS) occurs over a vast range of timescales. CTTS in particular are subject to variability caused by accretion shocks which can occur stochastically, periodically, or quasi-periodically on timescales over a few days. The detectability of young planets within these systems is likely hampered by activity; therefore, it is essential that we understand the origin of young star variability over a range of timescales to help disentangle stellar activity from signatures of planetary origin. We present analysis of the stochastic small-amplitude photometric va…
We present a method for detecting starspots on cool stars using the cross-correlation function (CCF) of high resolution molecular spectral templates applied to archival high-resolution spectra of G and K stars observed with HARPS/HARPS-N. We report non-detections of starspots on the Sun even when the Sun was spotted, the solar twin 18 Scorpii, and the very spotted Sun-like star HAT-P-11, suggesting that Sun-like starspot distributions will be invisible to the CCF technique, and should not produce molecular absorption signals which might be confused for signatures of exoplanet atmospheres. We d…
Ages and masses of young stars are often estimated by comparing their luminosities and effective temperatures to pre-main sequence stellar evolution tracks, but magnetic fields and starspots complicate both the observations and evolution. To understand their influence, we study the heavily-spotted weak-lined T-Tauri star LkCa 4 by searching for spectral signatures of radiation originating from the starspot or starspot groups. We introduce a new methodology for constraining both the starspot filling factor and the spot temperature by fitting two-temperature stellar atmosphere models constructed…
It is shown that the existence of a hot accretion spot on the surface of classical T Tauri stars allows to explain observed veiling of their photospheric spectrum not only in the visible but also in the near infrared spectral band.
Results of the time variability monitoring of the two classical T Tauri stars, RU Lup and IM Lup, are presented. Three photometric data sets were utilised: (1) simultaneous (same field) MOST satellite observations over four weeks in each of the years 2012 and 2013, (2) multicolour observations at the SAAO in April - May of 2013, (3) archival V-filter ASAS data for nine seasons, 2001 - 2009. They were augmented by an analysis of high-resolution, public-domain VLT-UT2 UVES spectra from the years 2000 to 2012. From the MOST observations, we infer that irregular light variations of RU Lup are caus…
The young cluster NGC 2264 was observed with the Corot satellite for 23 days uninterruptedly in March 2008 with unprecedent photometric accuracy. We present here the first results of the analysis of the accreting population. We intended to look for possible light curve variability of the same nature as that observed in the classical T Tauri star AA Tau, which was attributed to a magnetically controlled inner disk warp, which is directly associated with the interaction between the stellar magnetic field and the inner disk region. We analysed the Corot light curves of 83 previously known classic…
Results of high-cadence multi-colour observations of 121 pre-main sequence stars available from the northern hemisphere are presented. The aim of this survey was to detect transit-like signatures caused by occultation of these young stars and their accretion-induced hot spots by close-in planets and/or dusty clumps. Although none planetary transits were detected, our data allow to determine rotational periods for some T Tauri stars, characterise accretion processes operating in classical T Tauri-type stars in time scales ranging from a few minutes to days, as well as the large-scale dips cause…
We present Doppler imaging and a Balmer line analysis of the weak-line T Tauri star TWA 17. Spectra were taken in 2006 with the UCL Echelle Spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope. Using least-squares deconvolution to improve the effective signal-to-noise ratio we produced a Doppler map of the surface spot distribution. This shows similar features to maps of other rapidly rotating T Tauri stars, i.e. a polar spot with more spots extending out of it down to the equator. In addition to the photospheric variability, the chromospheric variability was studied using the Balmer emission. The m…
The variability of young stellar objects is mostly driven by star-disk interactions. In long-term photometric monitoring of the accreting T Tauri star GI Tau, we detect extinction events with typical depths of $ΔV \sim 2.5$ mag that last for days-to-months and often appear to occur stochastically. In 2014 - 2015, extinctions that repeated with a quasi-period of 21 days over several months is the first empirical evidence of slow warps predicted from MHD simulations to form at a few stellar radii away from the central star. The reddening is consistent with $R_V=3.85\pm0.5$ and, along with an abs…
We report results of a spectropolarimetric and photometric monitoring of the weak-line T Tauri star V410 Tau based on data collected mostly with SPIRou, the near-infrared (NIR) spectropolarimeter recently installed at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, as part of the SPIRou Legacy Survey large programme, and with TESS between October and December 2019. Using Zeeman-Doppler Imaging (ZDI), we obtained the first maps of photospheric brightness and large-scale magnetic field at the surface of this young star derived from NIR spectropolarimetric data. For the first time, ZDI is also simultaneously…
We analyze the accretion properties of 21 low mass T Tauri stars using a dataset of contemporaneous near ultraviolet (NUV) through optical observations obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and the ground based Small and Medium Aperture Research Telescope System (SMARTS), a unique dataset because of the nearly simultaneous broad wavelength coverage. Our dataset includes accreting T Tauri stars (CTTS) in Taurus, Chamaeleon I, $η$ Chamaeleon and the TW Hydra Association. For each source we calculate the accretion rate by fitting the NUV and optical excesses above t…
Multiple star systems are commonly assumed to form coevally; they thus provide the anchor for most calibrations of stellar evolutionary models. In this paper we study the binary population of the Taurus-Auriga association, using the component positions in an HR diagram in order to quantify the frequency and degree of coevality in young binary systems. After identifying and rejecting the systems that are known to be affected by systematic errors (due to further multiplicity or obscuration by circumstellar material), we find that the relative binary ages, |Delta log(tau)|, have an overall disper…
We studied the weak-lined T Tauri star Hubble 4, a known long-period binary, and its starspot phenomena. We used optical radial velocity (RV) data taken over a span of 14 years (2004-2010, 2017-2019) at the McDonald Observatory 2.7m Harlan J. Smith telescope and single epoch imaging from the HST/WFC3 instrument. The observed and apparent RV variations show contributions, respectively, from the binary motion as well as from a large spot group on one of the stars, presumed to be the primary. Fitting and removing the orbital signal from the RVs, we found the lower bound on the lifetime of a previ…
We discuss key observational signatures of Classical T Tauri stars (CTTSs) accreting through Rayleigh-Taylor instability, which occurs at the interface between an accretion disk and a stellar magnetosphere. In this study, the results of global 3-D MHD simulations of accretion flows, in both stable and unstable regimes, are used to predict the variability of hydrogen emission lines and light curves associated with those two distinctive accretion flow patterns. In the stable regime, a redshifted absorption component (RAC) periodically appears in some hydrogen lines, but only during a fraction of…
Our goal is to relate the photometric and spectroscopic variability of classical T Tauri stars, of the star-forming cluster NGC 2264, to the physical processes acting in the stellar and circumstellar environment, within a few stellar radii from the star. NGC 2264 was the target of a multiwavelength observational campaign with CoRoT, MOST, Spitzer, and Chandra satellites and observations from the ground. We classified the CoRoT light curves of accreting systems according to their morphology and compared our classification to several accretion diagnostics and disk parameters. The morphology of t…
The problem on heating the atmospheres of T Tauri stars by radiation from an accretion shock has been solved. The structure and radiation spectrum of the emerging so-called hot spot have been calculated in the LTE approximation. The emission not only in continuum but also in lines has been taken into account for the first time when calculating the spot spectrum. Comparison with observations has shown that the strongest of these lines manifest themselves as narrow components of helium and metal emission lines, while the weaker ones decrease significantly the depth of photospheric absorption lin…
We present high-resolution $H$- and $K$-band spectroscopic observations of the archetypal T Tauri star T Tau North. Synthetic spectral modeling is used to derive the $K$-band temperature, surface gravity, magnetic field strength, and rotational velocity for this star. The $K$-band spectroscopic temperature measured is $\rm T_{K\text{-band}} = 3976 \pm 90 K$, which is $\sim 1000 \, \rm K$ cooler than the temperature measured from optical observations. Our $K$-band temperature measurement for T Tau N is confirmed using equivalent width line ratio vs. temperature relations in the $H$-band, from w…
We present a study of the long-term optical variability of young T Tauri stars using previously unpublished data from the SuperWASP project. Other publicly available photometry from NSVS and the NASA K2 mission were used to check and supplement our results. Our sample includes twenty weak-lined T Tauri stars in the Taurus-Auriga star-forming region. We have performed a period search on the long time-series photometry and derived the mean periods of stars in our sample. We have found new periods for the stars V1334 Tau (HD 283782) and V1349 Tau (HD 31281) without any estimation of the period in…
A spectrum of a hot spot, produced by radiation of accretion shock at T Tauri star's surface, has been calculated taking into account non-LTE effects for HeI, HeII, CaI and CaII, using LTE-calculations of spot's atmospheric structure, calculated by Dodin & Lamzin (2012). Assuming that pre-shock gas number density N_0 and its velocity V_0 are the same across the accretion column, we calculated spectra of a system "star + round spot" for a set of N_0, V_0 values and parameters, which characterized the star and the spot. It has been shown that theoretical spectra with an appropriate choice of the…
We report observations of a possible young transiting planet orbiting a previously known weak-lined T-Tauri star in the 7-10 Myr old Orion-OB1a/25-Ori region. The candidate was found as part of the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) Orion project. It has a photometric transit period of 0.448413 +- 0.000040 days, and appears in both 2009 and 2010 PTF data. Follow-up low-precision radial velocity (RV) observations and adaptive optics imaging suggest that the star is not an eclipsing binary, and that it is unlikely that a background source is blended with the target and mimicking the observed transi…
The properties of accretion disks around stars and brown dwarfs in the SOri cluster (age 3 Myr) are studied based on NIR time series photometry supported by MIR spectral energy distributions. We monitor ~30 young low-mass sources over 8 nights in the J- and K-band using the duPont telescope at Las Campanas. We find three objects showing variability with J-band amplitudes >0.5 mag; five additional objects exhibit low-level variations. All three highly variable sources have been previously identified as highly variable; thus we establish the long-term nature of their flux changes. The lightcurve…
We present measurements of spot properties on 31 young stellar objects, based on multi-band data from the HOYS (Hunting Outbursting Young Stars) project. On average the analysis for each object is based on 270 data points during 80 days in at least 3 bands. All the young low-mass stars in our sample show periodic photometric variations. We determine spot temperatures and coverage by comparing the measured photometric amplitudes in optical bands with simulated amplitudes based on atmosphere models, including a complete error propagation. 21 objects in our sample feature cool spots, with spot te…
The T Tauri stars with active accretion disks show veiled photospheric spectra. This is supposedly due to non-photospheric continuum radiated by hot spots beneath the accretion shocks at stellar surface and/or chromospheric emission lines radiated by the post-shocked gas. The amount of veiling is often considered as a measure of the mass-accretion rate. We analysed high-resolution photospheric spectra of accreting T Tauri stars LkHa 321, V1331 Cyg, and AS 353 A with the aim of clarifying the nature of the line-dependent veiling. Each of these objects shows a highly veiled, strong emission line…
From observations collected with the ESPaDOnS spectropolarimeter at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, we report the detection of Zeeman signatures on the low-mass classical TTauri star (cTTS) V2247Oph. Profile distortions and circular polarisation signatures detected in photospheric lines can be interpreted as caused by cool spots and magnetic regions at the surface of the star. The large-scale field is of moderate strength and highly complex; moreover, both the spot distribution and the magnetic field show significant variability on a timescale of only one week, as a likely result of strong…
The T Tauri star CVSO30, also known as PTFO8-8695, was studied intensively with ground based telescopes as well as with satellites over the last decade. It showed a variable light curve with additional repeating planetary transit-like dips every ~0.8h. However, these dimming events changed in depth and duration since their discovery and from autumn 2018 on, they were not even present or near the predicted observing times. As reason for the detected dips and their changes within the complex light curve, e.g. a disintegrating planet, a circumstellar dust clump, stellar spots, possible multiplici…
We aim to characterize the magnetospheric accretion process in the young stellar object V807 Tau, one of the most stable dippers revealed by K2 in the Taurus star forming region. We performed photometric and spectropolarimetric follow-up observations of this system with CFHT/ESPaDOnS in order to investigate its variability over several rotational periods. We derive a 4.38 day period from the K2 light curve. This period is also seen in the radial velocity variations, ascribed to spot modulation. The narrow component of the He I 5876 Å line as well as the red wing of the Hβ and Hγ line profiles …
In this paper, new determined BVR_cI_c light curves and radial velocities of V781 Tau are presented. By analyzing the light curves and radial velocities simultaneously, we found that V781 Tau is a W-subtype medium contact binary star with a mass ratio of q=2.207+-0.005 and a contact degree of f=21.6(+-1.0)%. The difference between the two light maxima was explained by a dark spot on the less massive primary component. The orbital period change of V781 Tau was also investigated. A secular decrease at a rate of $-6.01(+-2.28)*10^{-8} d/yr and a cyclic modulation with a period of 44.8+-5.7 yr and…
We present a multi-epoch spectroscopic study of LkCa 4, a heavily spotted non-accreting T Tauri star. Using SpeX at NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF), 12 spectra were collected over five consecutive nights, spanning $\approx$ 1.5 stellar rotations. Using the IRTF SpeX Spectral Library, we constructed empirical composite models of spotted stars by combining a warmer (photosphere) standard star spectrum with a cooler (spot) standard weighted by the spot filling factor, $f_{spot}$. The best-fit models spanned two photospheric component temperatures, $T_{phot}$ = 4100 K (K7V) and 4400 K (K…
