Stellar Rotation of T Tauri stars in the Orion Star-Forming Complex

TL;DR

This study analyzes the rotation rates of T Tauri stars in Orion, revealing how stellar rotation decreases with age and is influenced by accreting disks, providing key insights into early stellar evolution.

Contribution

It offers a large-scale empirical analysis linking stellar rotation, age, and disk presence in T Tauri stars, using Gaia and APOGEE data.

Findings

$v ext{sin}(i)$ decreases with age for low-mass stars

Rotation regulation linked to disk presence within 6 Myr

Provides constraints for early stellar rotation models

Abstract

We present a large-scale study of stellar rotation for T Tauri stars in the Orion Star-Forming Complex. We use the projected rotational velocity ($v\sin(i)$) estimations reported by the APOGEE-2 collaboration as well as individual masses and ages derived from the position of the stars in the HR diagram, considering Gaia-EDR3 parallaxes and photometry plus diverse evolutionary models. We find an empirical trend for $v\sin(i)$ decreasing with age for low-mass stars ($0.4 M_{\odot} < M_{\ast} < 1.2 M_{\odot}$). Our results support the existence of a mechanism linking $v\sin(i)$ to the presence of accreting protoplanetary disks, responsible for regulating stellar rotation in timescales of about 6 Myr, which is the timescale in which most of the T Tauri stars lose their inner disk. Our results provide important constraints to models of rotation in the early phases of evolution of young stars and their disks.