A multi-kiloGauss magnetic field driving the magnetospheric accretion process in EX Lupi

TL;DR

This study investigates the magnetic field structure of EX Lupi during quiescence, revealing a strong magnetic field that influences accretion processes and supports episodic accretion events in classical T Tauri stars.

Contribution

First detailed magnetic field analysis of EX Lupi during quiescence, combining small and large-scale magnetic topology to understand magnetospheric accretion mechanisms.

Findings

Detected one of the strongest magnetic fields in cTTSs.

Identified a stable accretion funnel connecting the disc to the star.

Magnetic field truncates the disc beyond the corotation radius.

Abstract

EX Lupi is the prototype of EX Lup-type stars, meaning classical T Tauri stars (cTTSs) showing luminosity bursts and outbursts of 1 to 5 magnitudes lasting for a few months to a few years. These events are ascribed to an episodic accretion that can occur repeatedly but whose physical mechanism is still debated. In this work, we aim to investigate the magnetically-driven accretion of EX Lup in quiescence, including for the first time a study of the small and large-scale magnetic field. This allows us to provide a complete characterisation of the magnetospheric accretion process of the system. We use spectropolarimetric times series acquired in 2016 and 2019 with the Echelle SpectroPolarimetric Device for the Observation of Stars and in 2019 with the SpectroPolarim\`etre InfraRouge at the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope, during a quiescence phase of EX Lup. We were thus able to perform a variability analysis of the radial velocity, the emission lines and surface averaged longitudinal magnetic field along different epochs and wavelength domains. We also provide a small-scale magnetic field analysis using Zeeman intensification of photospheric lines and large-scale magnetic topology reconstruction using Zeeman-Doppler Imaging. Our study reveals a typical magnetospheric accretion ongoing on EX Lup, with a main accretion funnel flow connecting the inner disc to the star in a stable fashion and producing an accretion shock on the stellar surface close to the pole of the magnetic dipole component. We also measure one of the strongest fields ever observed on cTTSs. Such a strong field indicates that the disc is truncated by the magnetic field close but beyond the corotation radius, where the angular velocity of the disc equals the angular velocity of the star. Such a configuration is suitable for a magnetically-induced disc instability yielding episodic accretion onto the star.