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The surface magnetic fields of T Tauri stars

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2008

Gaitee A. J. Hussain
Affiliation:
ESO, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany. email: [email protected]
Andrew Collier Cameron
Affiliation:
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, Fife KY16 9SS, Scotland, UK email: [email protected], [email protected]
Moira Jardine
Affiliation:
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, Fife KY16 9SS, Scotland, UK email: [email protected], [email protected]
Jean-Francois Donati
Affiliation:
LATT, CNRS-UMR 5572, Obs. Midi-Pyrénées, 14. Av. E. Belin, F-31400 Toulouse, France email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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We present surface magnetic field maps of the two accreting T Tauri stars, CV Cha and CR Cha. Our magnetic field maps show evidence for strong, complex multi-polar fields similar to those obtained on young rapidly rotating main sequence stars. Both CV Cha and CR Cha show magnetic field patterns that are more complex than those recovered for the lower mass, fully convective T Tauri star, BP Tau.

By comparing our maps with previously published maps of classical T Tauri stars, we infer that magnetic field patterns on T Tauris, and their underlying magnetic field generation mechanisms evolve quickly as they develop radiative cores. This may have implications for the efficiency with which T Tauri stars can effectively lock onto their surrounding disks under the magnetospheric accretion model scenario. This, in turn, has implications for the angular momentum evolution of T Tauri stars as they evolve towards the main sequence.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2009

References

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