X-Shooter study of accretion in Chamaeleon I: II. A steeper increase of accretion with stellar mass for very low mass stars?

TL;DR

This study investigates how mass accretion rates depend on stellar mass in the Chamaeleon I region, suggesting a possible steeper increase for very low mass stars, with implications for disk evolution and star formation theories.

Contribution

It provides a self-consistent analysis of accretion in low-mass stars using VLT/X-Shooter data, proposing a broken power-law relation and identifying regions devoid of accreting objects.

Findings

Accretion rate correlates with stellar mass with a slope of ~2.3.

A broken power-law fit is slightly favored, indicating a steeper relation for low-mass stars.

Two regions lack objects, possibly due to photoevaporation effects.

Abstract

The dependence of the mass accretion rate on the stellar properties is a key constraint for star formation and disk evolution studies. Here we present a study of a sample of stars in the Chamaeleon I star forming region carried out using the VLT/X-Shooter spectrograph. The sample is nearly complete down to M~0.1Msun for the young stars still harboring a disk in this region. We derive the stellar and accretion parameters using a self-consistent method to fit the broad-band flux-calibrated medium resolution spectrum. The correlation between the accretion luminosity to the stellar luminosity, and of the mass accretion rate to the stellar mass in the logarithmic plane yields slopes of 1.9 and 2.3, respectively. These slopes and the accretion rates are consistent with previous results in various star forming regions and with different theoretical frameworks. However, we find that a broken power-law fit, with a steeper slope for stellar luminosity smaller than ~0.45 Lsun and for stellar masses smaller than ~ 0.3 Msun, is slightly preferred according to different statistical tests, but the single power-law model is not excluded. The steeper relation for lower mass stars can be interpreted as a faster evolution in the past for accretion in disks around these objects, or as different accretion regimes in different stellar mass ranges. Finally, we find two regions on the mass accretion versus stellar mass plane empty of objects. One at high mass accretion rates and low stellar masses, which is related to the steeper dependence of the two parameters we derived. The second one is just above the observational limits imposed by chromospheric emission. This empty region is located at M~0.3-0.4Msun, typical masses where photoevaporation is known to be effective, and at mass accretion rates ~10^-10 Msun/yr, a value compatible with the one expected for photoevaporation to rapidly dissipate the inner disk.