Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Redshifted Absorption At He I Λ10830 As A Probe Of The Accretion Geometry Of T Tauri Stars, William Fischer, John Kwan, Suzan Edwards, Lynne A. Hillenbrand

Astronomy: Faculty Publications

We probe the geometry of magnetospheric accretion in classical T Tauri stars (CTTSs) by modeling red absorption at He I λ10830 via scattering of the stellar and veiling continua. Under the assumptions that the accretion flow is an azimuthally symmetric dipole and helium is sufficiently optically thick that all incident 1 μm radiation is scattered, we illustrate the sensitivity of He I λ10830 red absorption to both the size of the magnetosphere and the filling factor of the hot accretion shock. We compare model profiles to those observed in 21 CTTSs with subcontinuum redshifted absorption at He I λ10830 and …