Infall variability in the Classical T Tauri system VZ Chamaeleonis

¹ Institut für Astronomie, ETH-Zentrum, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland
² Paul Scherrer Institut, Würenlingen und Villigen, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
³ Anglo-Australian Observatory, PO Box 296, Epping, NSW 1710, Australia e-mail: gfl@aaoepp.aao.GOV.AU
⁴ University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland e-mail: iab1@st-andrews.ac.uk
⁵ Department of Physics, Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK e-mail: j.p.emerson@qmw.ac.uk

Corresponding author: K. Smith, kester@astro.phys.ethz.ch

Received: 11 June 2001
Accepted: 13 September 2001

Abstract

We present time series spectroscopy of the Classical T Tauri star VZ Cha. We follow spectral variations at intermediate resolution over five successive nights, or approximately two rotation periods. We see profile features which persist on timescales longer than the expected infall time from the inner disc, and we see expected evidence of rotational variations in the lines, but we also note that rotation alone cannot produce all the observed variability and some other mechanism must be invoked. The behaviour of Hα is observed to be markedly different from that of the other lines. In particular, the evidence of rotational effects is lacking at Hα, and the activity in the red and blue wings of the line is not significantly correlated, in contrast to the other Balmer lines.