The Inner Disk and Accretion Flow of the Close Binary DQ Tau

Muzerolle, James; Flaherty, Kevin; Balog, Z.; Beck, Tracy; Gutermuth, Robert

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab1756

Cited by 20 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Our results that the accretion depends on the orbital phase and is highest nearby periastron support previous observational and numerical results in the literature for DQ Tau and for eccentric binary systems in general (e.g. Mathieu et al 1997;Günther & Kley 2002a;Salter et al 2010;D'Orazio et al 2013;Farris et al 2014a;Muñoz & Lai 2016;Tofflemire et al 2017;Kóspál et al 2018;Muzerolle et al 2019). This is in agreement with the hypothesis that the accretion flow of DQ Tau can be explained by the "pulsed accretion model" (Artymowicz & Lubow 1996), according to which the accretion is highly modulated by the binaries orbital motion, peaking during periastron passages.…”

Section: Accretion Luminosity and Mass Accretion Ratesupporting

confidence: 91%

“…This interpretation has been confirmed in the following DQ Tau accretion studies (e.g. Salter et al 2010;Tofflemire et al 2017;Kóspál et al 2018;Muzerolle et al 2019). However, while the on-average results confirm the model predictions, Tofflemire et al (2017) found a complex variability from epoch to epoch, suggesting that the material accretes from the inner edge of the CBD in a more complex way than predicted by models.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 58%

“…In order to flux calibrate our spectra, we collected multi-filter photometry for DQ Tau from the literature (Muzerolle et al 2019) and data archives (ASAS-SN, Shappee et al 2014;Kochanek et al 2017). The light curves of DQ Tau are plotted in Fig.…”

Section: Observations and Data Reductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our results are shown with red filled circles. The same approach was used by Muzerolle et al (2019), but only for Paβ and Brγ lines. We computed the mean values of these two Ṁacc estimates, plotting the results as blue filled squares.…”

Section: Accretion Variability Over the Binary Orbitmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The accretion process in the DQ Tau binary system

Fiorellino,

Park,

Kóspál

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Mass accretion from the circumstellar disk onto the protostar is a fundamental process during star formation. Measuring the mass accretion rate is particularly challenging for stars belonging to binary systems, because it is often difficult to discriminate which component is accreting. DQ Tau is an almost equal-mass spectroscopic binary system where the components orbit each other every 15.8 days. The system is known to display pulsed accretion, i.e., the periodic modulation of the accretion by the components on eccentric orbit. We present multiepoch ESO/VLT X-Shooter observations of DQ Tau, with the aim to determine which component of this system is the main accreting source. We use the absorption lines in the spectra to determine the radial velocity of the two components, and measure the continuum veiling as a function of wavelength and time. We fit the observed spectra with non-accreting templates to correct for the photospheric and chromospheric contribution. In the corrected spectra we study in details the profiles of the emission lines and calculate mass accretion rates for the system as a function of orbital phase. In accordance with previous findings, we detect elevated accretion close to periastron. We measure that the accretion rate varies between 10 −8.5 and 10 −7.3 M yr −1 . The emission line profiles suggest that both stars are actively accreting and the dominant accretor is not always the same component, varying in few orbits.

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Section: Accretion Luminosity and Mass Accretion Ratesupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 58%

Section: Observations and Data Reductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Accretion Variability Over the Binary Orbitmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The accretion process in the DQ Tau binary system

Fiorellino,

Park,

Kóspál

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…In the case of highly eccentric binaries, like TWA 3A (the subject of this study), accretion bursts are predicted near each periastron passage that increase the specific accretion rate by a factor of ∼10 (Muñoz & Lai 2016). Evidence for such orbit-modulated accretion has been shown in the highly eccentric binaries DQ Tau (e=0.57; Mathieu et al 1997;Tofflemire et al 2017a;Muzerolle et al 2019) and TWA 3A (e=0.63; Tofflemire et al 2017b) through long-term photometric monitoring. Additionally, DQ Tau has also shown periodic increases in the level of absorption line veiling and Hα luminosity near periastron ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Accretion Kinematics in the T Tauri Binary TWA 3A: Evidence for Preferential Accretion onto the TWA 3A Primary

Tofflemire

Johns–Krull

2019

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We present time-series, high-resolution optical spectroscopy of the eccentric T Tauri binary TWA 3A. Our analysis focuses on variability in the strength and structure of the accretion tracing emission lines Hα and He I 5876Å. We find emission line strengths to display the same orbital-phase dependent behavior found with timeseries photometry, namely, bursts of accretion near periastron passages. Such bursts are in good agreement with numerical simulations of young eccentric binaries. During accretion bursts, the emission of He I 5876Å consistently traces the velocity of the primary star. After removing a model for the system's chromospheric emission, we find the primary star typically emits ∼70% of the He I accretion flux. We interpret this result as evidence for circumbinary accretion streams that preferentially feed the TWA 3A primary. This finding is in contrast to most numerical simulations, which predict the secondary should be the dominant accretor in a binary system. Our results may be consistent with a model in which the precession of an eccentric circumbinary disk gap alternates between preferentially supplying mass to the primary and secondary.

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The GRAVITY young stellar object survey

Eupen¹,

Labadie²,

Grellmann³

et al. 2021

A&A

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Context. Close young binary stars are unique laboratories for the direct measurement of pre-main-sequence (PMS) stellar masses and their comparison to evolutionary theoretical models. At the same time, a precise knowledge of their orbital parameters when still in the PMS phase offers an excellent opportunity for understanding the influence of dynamical effects on the morphology and lifetime of the circumstellar as well as circumbinary material. Aims. The young T Tauri star WW Cha was recently proposed to be a close binary object with strong infrared and submillimeter excess associated with circum-system emission, which makes it dynamically a very interesting source in the above context. The goal of this work is to determine the astrometric orbit and the stellar properties of WW Cha using multi-epoch interferometric observations. Methods. We derive the relative astrometric positions and flux ratios of the stellar companion in WW Cha from the interferometric model fitting of observations made with the VLTI instruments AMBER, PIONIER, and GRAVITY in the near-infrared from 2011 to 2020. For two epochs, the resulting uv-coverage in spatial frequencies permits us to perform the first image reconstruction of the system in the K band. The positions of nine epochs are used to determine the orbital elements and the total mass of the system. Combining the orbital solution with distance measurements from Gaia DR2 and the analysis of evolutionary tracks, we constrain the mass ratio. Results. We find the secondary star orbiting the primary with a period of T = 206.55 days, a semimajor axis of a = 1.01 au, and a relatively high eccentricity of e = 0.45. The dynamical mass of Mtot = 3.20 M⊙ can be explained by a mass ratio between ∼0.5 and 1, indicating an intermediate-mass T Tauri classification for both components. The orbital angular momentum vector is in close alignment with the angular momentum vector of the outer disk as measured by ALMA and SPHERE, resulting in a small mutual disk inclination. The analysis of the relative photometry suggests the presence of infrared excess surviving in the system and likely originating from truncated circumstellar disks. The flux ratio between the two components appears variable, in particular in the K band, and may hint at periods of triggered higher and lower accretion or changes in the disks’ structures. Conclusions. The knowledge of the orbital parameters, combined with a relatively short period, makes WW Cha an ideal target for studying the interaction of a close young T Tauri binary with its surrounding material, such as time-dependent accretion phenomena. Finding WW Cha to be composed of two (probably similar) stars led us to reevaluate the mass of WW Cha, which had been previously derived under the assumption of a single star. This work illustrates the potential of long baseline interferometry to precisely characterize close young binary stars separated by a few astronomical units. Finally, when combined with radial velocity measurements, individual stellar masses can be derived and used to calibrate theoretical PMS models.

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The Inner Disk and Accretion Flow of the Close Binary DQ Tau

Cited by 20 publications

References 55 publications

The accretion process in the DQ Tau binary system

The accretion process in the DQ Tau binary system

Accretion Kinematics in the T Tauri Binary TWA 3A: Evidence for Preferential Accretion onto the TWA 3A Primary

The GRAVITY young stellar object survey

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