Global 3D Simulations of Disc Accretion onto the classical T Tauri Star BP Tauri

TL;DR

This study uses 3D simulations to model disc accretion onto the T Tauri star BP Tauri, revealing how combined magnetic field components influence accretion spots, magnetic field structure, and star-disk interactions.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed 3D simulation of disc accretion onto BP Tauri considering both dipole and octupole magnetic fields, aligning simulated accretion spots with observations.

Findings

Magnetic field lines inflate and form magnetic towers.

Accretion spots are higher latitude and elongated, matching observations.

Star's torque is insufficient for rotational equilibrium, implying early angular momentum loss.

Abstract

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 redirects the matter flow to higher latitudes. The spots are meridionally elongated and are located at higher latitudes, compared with the pure dipole case, where crescent-shaped, latitudinally elongated spots form at lower latitudes. The position and shape of the spots are in good agreement with observations. The disk-magnetosphere interaction leads to the inflation of the field lines and to the formation of magnetic towers above and below the disk. The magnetic field of BP Tau is close to the potential only near the star, inside the magnetospheric surface, where magnetic stress dominates over the matter stress. A series of simulation runs were performed for different accretion rates. They show that an accretion rate is lower than obtained in many observations, unless the disc is truncated close to the star. The torque acting on the star is about an order of magnitude lower than that which is required for the rotational equilibrium. We suggest that a star could lose most of its angular momentum at earlier stages of its evolution.