The non-dipolar magnetic fields of accreting T Tauri stars

TL;DR

This paper investigates the complex, non-dipolar magnetic fields of accreting T Tauri stars, using surface magnetograms and field extrapolation to understand their structure and impact on star-disc interactions.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed extrapolation of the coronal magnetic fields of T Tauri stars based on observed surface magnetograms, revealing more complex field geometries than simple dipoles.

Findings

Larger scale magnetic fields are simpler than surface fields.

Open magnetic flux is less than in dipole models.

The disc truncation radius depends on magnetic and viscous torques.

Abstract

Models of magnetospheric accretion on to classical T Tauri stars often assume that stellar magnetic fields are simple dipoles. Recently published surface magnetograms of BP Tau and V2129 Oph have shown, however, that their fields are more complex. The magnetic field of V2129 Oph was found to be predominantly octupolar. For BP Tau the magnetic energy was shared mainly between the dipole and octupole field components, with the dipole component being almost four times as strong as that of V2129 Oph. From the published surface maps of the photospheric magnetic fields we extrapolate the coronal fields of both stars, and compare the resulting field structures with that of a dipole. We consider different models where the disc is truncated at, or well-within, the Keplerian corotation radius. We find that although the structure of the surface magnetic field is particularly complex for both stars, the geometry of the larger scale field, along which accretion is occurring, is somewhat simpler. However, the larger scale field is distorted close to the star by the stronger field regions, with the net effect being that the fractional open flux through the stellar surface is less than would be expected with a dipole magnetic field model. Finally, we estimate the disc truncation radius, assuming that this occurs where the magnetic torque from the stellar magnetosphere is comparable to the viscous torque in the disc.