39 research outputs found
Nonradial and nonpolytropic astrophysical outflows IX. Modeling T Tauri jets with a low mass-accretion rate
Context: A large sample of T Tauri stars exhibits optical jets, approximately
half of which rotate slowly, only at ten per cent of their breakup velocity.
The disk-locking mechanism has been shown to be inefficient to explain this
observational fact.
Aims: We show that low mass accreting T Tauri stars may have a strong stellar
jet component that can effectively brake the star to the observed rotation
speed.
Methods: By means of a nonlinear separation of the variables in the full set
of the MHD equations we construct semi- analytical solutions describing the
dynamics and topology of the stellar component of the jet that emerges from the
corona of the star.
Results: We analyze two typical solutions with the same mass loss rate but
different magnetic lever arms and jet radii. The first solution with a long
lever arm and a wide jet radius effectively brakes the star and can be applied
to the visible jets of T Tauri stars, such as RY Tau. The second solution with
a shorter lever arm and a very narrow jet radius may explain why similar stars,
either Weak line T Tauri Stars (WTTS) or Classical T Tauri Stars (CTTS) do not
all have visible jets. For instance, RY Tau itself seems to have different
phases that probably depend on the activity of the star.
Conclusions: First, stellar jets seem to be able to brake pre-main sequence
stars with a low mass accreting rate. Second, jets may be visible only part
time owing to changes in their boundary conditions. We also suggest a possible
scenario for explaining the dichotomy between CTTS and WTTS, which rotate
faster and do not have visible jets