TW Hya’s large-scale field is a ~0.83 kG tilted dipole that varies yearly; accretion is unstable (rmag/rcor ≈ 0.33–0.40) and no close-in planet is detected above ~0.3–1 Mjup.
Mass, Gas, and Gauss around a T Tauri Star with SPIRou
1 Pith paper cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.
abstract
Studies of young planets help us understand planet evolution and investigate important evolutionary processes such as atmospheric escape. We monitored IRAS 04125+2902, a 3 Myr-old T Tauri star with a transiting planet and a transitional disk, with the SPIRou infrared spectropolarimeter on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Using these data, we constrained the mass and density of the Jupiter-size companion to <0.16 M_J and <0.23 g/cm^3, respectively (90\% upper limits). These rule out a Jovian-like object and support the hypothesis that it is an ancestor to the numerous sub-Neptunes found around mature stars. We unambiguously detect magnetic fields at the stellar surface, small-scale fields reaching 1.5 kG and the large-scale field mostly consisting of a 0.80-0.95 kG dipole inclined by 5-15deg to the rotation axis. Accretion onto the star is low and/or episodic at a maximum rate of ~10^{-11} Msun/yr, indicating that IRAS 04125+2902 is most likely in a magnetic 'propeller' regime, possibly maintaining the star's slow rotation (11.3~d). We discover persistent Doppler-shifted absorption in a metastable He I line, clear evidence for a magnetized wind from a gaseous inner disk. Variability in absorption suggests structure in the disk wind that could reflect disk-planet interactions.
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Unstable magnetospheric accretion on the T Tauri star TW Hya
TW Hya’s large-scale field is a ~0.83 kG tilted dipole that varies yearly; accretion is unstable (rmag/rcor ≈ 0.33–0.40) and no close-in planet is detected above ~0.3–1 Mjup.