The evolutionary status of the UX Orionis star RZ Piscium

The star RZ Psc is one of the most enigmatic members of the UX Ori star family. It shows all properties that are typical for these stars (the light variability, high linear polarization in deep minima, the blueing effect) except for one: it lacks any signatures of youth. With the Li I line, as a rough estimate for the stellar age, we show that the "lithium" age of RZ Psc lies between the age of stars in the Pleiades (approximately 70 Myr) and the Orion (approximately 10 Myr) clusters. We also roughly estimated the age of RZ Psc based on the proper motion of the star using the Tycho-2 catalog. We found that the star has escaped from its assumed birthplace near to the Galactic plane about 30-40 Myr ago. We conclude that RZ Psc is a post-UXOr star, and its sporadic eclipses are caused by material from the debris disk

Accretion and outflow activity on the late phases of pre-main-sequence evolution. The case of RZ Piscium

RZ Psc is an isolated high-latitude post-T Tauri star that demonstrates a UX Ori-type photometric activity. The star shows very weak spectroscopic signatures of accretion, but at the same time possesses the unusual footprints of the wind in Na I D lines. In the present work we investigate new spectroscopic observations of RZ Psc obtained in 2014 during two observation runs. We found variable blueshifted absorption components (BACs) in lines of the other alcali metals, K I 7699 \AA\ and Ca II IR triplet. We also confirmed the presence of a weak emission component in the H$\alpha$ line, which allowed us to estimate the mass accretion rate on the star as $\dot{M}\leq$ $7 \cdot 10^{-12}$Msun yr$^{-1}$. We could not reveal any clear periodicity in the appearance of BACs in sodium lines. Nevertheless, the exact coincidence of the structure and velocities of the Na I D absorptions observed with the interval of about one year suggests that such a periodicity should exist

Flares of accretion activity of the 20 Myr old UXOR RZ Psc

We discuss a revision of accretion activity and kinematics of the enigmatic isolated UX Ori type star RZ Psc. Previously, RZ Psc was known to possess only spectroscopic signatures of outflow in the low-excitation lines of alkali metals. The archival high-resolution spectra reveal a short-lived episode of magnetospheric accretion in the system observed via inverse P Cyg profiles at the H$\alpha$ and CaII 8542 \unicode{x212B} lines. The simultaneous presence of accretion and outflow signatures at CaII 8542 \unicode{x212B} is suggestive of an accretion-driven origin of the RZ Psc wind. We argue that RZ Psc experiences matter ejection via the magnetic propeller mechanism but variable accretion episodes allow it to sometimes move in the magnetospheric accretion regime. The presence of the weak accretion in the system is also supported by the radiation of the hot accretion spot on the stellar surface observed spectroscopically at the deep photometric minimum of the star. The Galactic motion of RZ Psc calculated with new GAIA DR2 astrometric data suggests possible membership in Cas-Tau OB association with an age of $t=20^{+3}_{-5}$ Myr

Longitudinal drift of Tayler instability eigenmodes as a possible explanation for super-slowly rotating Ap stars

Rotation periods inferred from the magnetic variability of some Ap stars are incredibly long, exceeding ten years in some cases. An explanation for such slow rotation is lacking. This paper attempts to provide an explanation of the super-slow rotation of the magnetic and thermal patterns of Ap stars in terms of the longitudinal drift of the unstable disturbances of the kink-type (Tayler) instability of their internal magnetic field. The rates of drift and growth were computed for eigenmodes of Tayler instability using stellar parameters estimated from a structure model of an A star. The computations refer to the toroidal background magnetic field of varied strength. The non-axisymmetric unstable disturbances drift in a counter-rotational direction in the co-rotating reference frame. The drift rate increases with the strength of the background field. For a field strength exceeding the (equipartition) value of equal Alfven and rotational velocities, the drift rate approaches the proper rotation rate of a star. The eigenmodes in an inertial frame show very slow rotation in this case. Patterns of magnetic and thermal disturbances of the slowly rotating eigenmodes are also computed. The counter-rotational drift of Tayler instability eigenmodes is a possible explanation for the observed phenomenon of super-slowly rotating Ap stars.Comment: Accepted in A&

An active asteroid belt causing the UX Ori phenomenon in RZ Psc

We report the discovery of mid-infrared excess emission in the young object RZ Psc. The excess constitutes ~8% of its Lbol, and is well fit by a single 500K black-body implying a dust free region within 0.7AU for optically thick dust. The object displays dust obscuration events (UXOR behaviour) with a time-scale that suggests dusty material on orbits of 0.5AU. We also report a 12.4 year cyclical photometric variability which can be interpreted as due to perturbations in the dust distribution. The system is characterized by a high inclination, marginal extinction (during bright photometric states), a single temperature for the warm dust, and an age estimate which puts the star beyond the formation stage. We propose that the dust occultation events present a dynamical view of an active asteroid belt whose collisional products sporadically obscure the central star.Comment: Accepted for A&A letter

An in-depth analysis of the RZ Piscium atmosphere

The star RZ Psc is one of the most unusual members of the UX Ori star family. It demonstrates all properties that are typical of these stars (the light variability, high linear polarization in deep minima, the blueing effect), but until recently there has been no obvious evidence of its youth. Recently, we have shown that RZ Psc is in the transitional evolutionary stage between stars with the primordial and debris disks. In this paper we present the results of the quantitative analysis of the star’s spectrum. Using the high-resolution (R = 46 000) spectrum of RZ Psc obtained with Nordic Optical Telescope, we determined Teff = 5350 ± 150 K, log g = 4.2 ± 0.2, [M/H] = −0.3 ± 0.05. These parameters agree well with the same ones as for the stars recently passed the T Tauri star evolutionary stage. This supports our previous suggestion about the evolutionary status of RZ Psc as the post-T Tauri and post-UX Ori star