Non-stationary dynamo & magnetospheric accretion processes of the classical T Tauri star V2129 Oph

TL;DR

This study investigates the magnetic topology and accretion processes of the classical T Tauri star V2129 Oph through multi-wavelength spectropolarimetric observations, revealing significant magnetic field changes and accretion characteristics over four years.

Contribution

The paper introduces a new tomographic imaging tool to map magnetic fields and accretion features, demonstrating the non-stationary nature of the star's dynamo-generated magnetic field.

Findings

Magnetic field components changed significantly between 2005 and 2009.

Surface shear of V2129Oph is about half that of the Sun.

Accretion rate remains consistent at approximately 10^-9.2 Msun/yr.

Abstract

We report here the first results of a multi-wavelength campaign focussing on magnetospheric accretion processes of the classical TTauri star (cTTS) V2129Oph. In this paper, we present spectropolarimetric observations collected in 2009 July with ESPaDOnS at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT). Circularly polarised Zeeman signatures are clearly detected, both in photospheric absorption and accretion-powered emission lines, from time-series of which we reconstruct new maps of the magnetic field, photospheric brightness and accretion-powered emission at the surface of V2129Oph using our newest tomographic imaging tool - to be compared with those derived from our old 2005 June data set, reanalyzed in the exact same way. We find that in 2009 July, V2129Oph hosts octupolar & dipolar field components of about 2.1 & 0.9kG respectively, both tilted by about 20deg with respect to the rotation axis; we conclude that the large-scale magnetic topology changed significantly since 2005 June (when the octupole and dipole components were about 1.5 and 3 times weaker respectively), demonstrating that the field of V2129Oph is generated by a non-stationary dynamo. We also show that V2129Oph features a dark photospheric spot and a localised area of accretion-powered emission, both close to the main surface magnetic region (hosting fields of up to about 4kG in 2009 July). We finally obtain that the surface shear of V2129Oph is about half as strong as solar. From the fluxes of accretion-powered emission lines, we estimate that the observed average logarithmic accretion rate (in Msun/yr) at the surface of V2129Oph is -9.2+-0.3 at both epochs, peaking at -9.0 at magnetic maximum. It implies in particular that the radius at which the magnetic field of V2129Oph truncates the inner accretion disc is 0.93x and 0.50x the corotation radius in 2009 July and 2005 June respectively.