The large-scale magnetic field and poleward mass accretion of the classical T Tauri star TW Hya

TL;DR

This study uses spectropolarimetric data to map the magnetic field and accretion processes of the 8-million-year-old T Tauri star TW Hya, revealing a predominantly poloidal, axisymmetric magnetic topology and its implications for stellar spin-up.

Contribution

First detailed magnetic topology maps of TW Hya showing a dominant octupolar field and insights into its accretion and rotational evolution.

Findings

Magnetic field is mainly poloidal and axisymmetric with a strong octupolar component.

Accretion occurs mainly at high latitudes near the magnetic pole.

TW Hya is in rapid spin-up phase due to a weakening large-scale dipole field.

Abstract

We report here results of spectropolarimetric observations of the ~8Myr classical TTauri star (cTTS) TWHya carried out with ESPaDOnS at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) in the framework of the `Magnetic Protostars and Planets' (MaPP) programme, and obtained at 2 different epochs (2008 March and 2010 March). Obvious Zeeman signatures are detected at all times, both in photospheric lines and in accretion-powered emission lines. Significant intrinsic variability and moderate rotational modulation is observed in both photospheric and accretion proxies. Using tomographic imaging, we reconstruct maps of the large-scale field, of the photospheric brightness and of the accretion-powered emission at the surface of TWHya at both epochs. We find that the magnetic topology is mostly poloidal and axisymmetric with respect to the rotation axis of the star, and that the octupolar component of the large-scale field (2.5-2.8kG at the pole) largely dominates the dipolar component. This large-scale field topology is characteristic of partly-convective stars, supporting the conclusion (from evolutionary models) that TWHya already hosts a radiative core. We also show that TWHya features a high-latitude photospheric cool spot overlapping with the main magnetic pole (and producing the observed radial velocity fluctuations); this is also where accretion concentrates most of the time, although accretion at lower latitudes is found to occur episodically. We propose that the relatively rapid rotation of TWHya (with respect to AATau-like cTTSs) directly reflects the weakness of the large-scale dipole, no longer capable of magnetically disrupting the accretion disc up to the corotation radius (at which the Keplerian period equals the stellar rotation period). We therefore conclude that TWHya is in a phase of rapid spin-up as its large-scale dipole field progressively vanishes.