We examine how accretion on to T Tauri stars may be modulated by a
time-dependent `magnetic gate' where the inner edge of the accretion disc is
disrupted by a varying stellar field. We show that magnetic field variations on
time-scales shorter than 10^5 yr can modulate the accretion flow, thus
providing a possible mechanism both for the marked photometric variability of T
Tauri stars and for the possible conversion of T Tauri stars between classical
and weak line status. We thus suggest that archival data relating to the
spectrophotometric variability of T Tauri stars may provide an indirect record
of magnetic activity cycles in low-mass pre-main-sequence stars.Comment: LaTeX file (requires mn.sty), 4 pages, no figures or tables. To
appear in MNRAS
