High-resolution TNG spectra of T Tauri stars

Near-IR GIANO observations of the young variables XZ Tauri and DR Tauri

¹ INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, via di Frascati 33, 00040 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
e-mail: antoniucci@oa-roma.inaf.it
² INAF–Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania, via S. Sofia 78, 95123 Catania, Italy
³ INAF–Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo Enrico Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy
⁴ Telescopio Nazionale Galileo, Fundación Galileo Galilei – INAF, Rambla José Ana Fernández Pérez, 7, 38712 Breña Baja, TF, Spain
⁵ INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, via Ranzani 1, 40127 Bologna, Italy

Received: 27 February 2017
Accepted: 12 June 2017

Abstract

Aims. We aim to characterise the star-disk interaction region in T Tauri stars that show photometric and spectroscopic variability.

Methods. We used the GIANO instrument at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo to obtain near-infrared high-resolution spectra (R ~ 50 000) of XZ Tau and DR Tau, which are two actively accreting T Tauri stars classified as EXors. Equivalent widths and profiles of the observed features are used to derive information on the properties of the inner disk, the accretion columns, and the winds.

Results. Both sources display composite H i line profiles, where contributions from both accreting gas and high-velocity winds can be recognised. These lines are progressively more symmetric and narrower with increasing upper energy which may be interpreted in terms of two components with different decrements or imputed to self-absorption effects. XZ Tau is observed in a relatively high state of activity with respect to literature observations. The variation of the He i 1.08 μm  line blue-shifted absorption, in particular, suggests that the inner wind has undergone a dramatic change in its velocity structure, connected with a recent accretion event. DR Tau has a more stable wind as its He i 1.08 μm  absorption does not show variations with time in spite of strong variability of the emission component. The IR veiling in the two sources can be interpreted as due to blackbody emission at temperatures of 1600 K and 2300 K for XZ Tau and DR Tau, respectively, with emitting areas ~30 times larger than the central star. While for XZ Tau these conditions are consistent with emission from the inner rim of the dusty disk, the fairly high temperature inferred for DR Tau might suggest that its veiling originates from a thick gaseous disk located within the dust sublimation radius. Strong and broad metallic lines, mainly from C i and Fe i, are detected in XZ Tau, similar to those observed in other EXor sources during burst phases. At variance, DR Tau shows weaker and narrower metallic lines, despite its larger accretion luminosity. This suggests that accretion is not the only driver of metallic line excitation.

Conclusions. The presented observations demonstrate the potential of wide-band, high-resolution near-IR spectroscopy to simultaneously probe the different phenomena that occur in the interaction region between the stellar magnetosphere and the accretion disk, thus providing hints on how these two structures are linked to each other.