High-Resolution Spectroscopy of Winds Associated with T Tauri Stars

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution spectroscopy to analyze winds from T Tauri stars, determining their physical properties and mass loss rates, revealing a correlation with mass accretion rates and differences between star types.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed measurements of wind densities, temperatures, and mass loss rates in T Tauri stars using forbidden line diagnostics.

Findings

Wind densities range from 2.5×10^6 to 2.5×10^9 cm^-3

Wind temperatures are between 10,800 and 18,000 K

Mass loss rates increase with mass accretion rates

Abstract

We carried out optical high-resolution spectroscopy of T Tauri stars using the Subaru Telescope. Using archived data from the Keck Telescope and the Very Large Telescope, we detected forbidden lines of [S II] at 4069 A, in addition to those of [O I] at 5577 A and 6300 A, for 13 T Tauri stars. We consider that low-velocity components of these forbidden lines emanate from the wind associated with T Tauri stars. Using two flux ratios of the three lines, we simultaneously determined the hydrogen density and temperature of the winds. The winds of T Tauri stars have a hydrogen density of $2.5 \times 10^{6}$ cm$^{-3}$ - $2.5 \times 10^{9}$ cm$^{-3}$ and a temperature of 10800 -18000 K. The mass loss rates by the wind are estimated to lie in the range from $2.0 \times 10^{-10}$ M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$ to $1.4 \times 10^{-9}$ M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$. The mass loss rates are found to increase with increasing mass accretion rates. The ratio of the mass loss rate to the mass accretion rate is 0.001-0.1 for classical T Tauri stars and 0.1-1 for transitional disk objects.