2023ApJ...946...10P -
Astrophys. J., 946, 10 (2023/March-3)
Correlating Changes in Spot Filling Factors with Stellar Rotation: The Case of LkCa 4.
PEREZ PAOLINO F., BARY J.S., PETERSEN M.S., WARD-DUONG K., TOFFLEMIRE B.M., FOLLETTE K.B. and MACH H.
Abstract (from CDS):
We present a multi-epoch spectroscopic study of LkCa 4, a heavily spotted non-accreting T Tauri star. Using SpeX at NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF), 12 spectra were collected over five consecutive nights, spanning ≈1.5 stellar rotations. Using the IRTF SpeX Spectral Library, we constructed empirical composite models of spotted stars by combining a warmer (photosphere) standard star spectrum with a cooler (spot) standard weighted by the spot filling factor, fspot. The best-fit models spanned two photospheric component temperatures, Tphot = 4100 K (K7V) and 4400 K (K5V), and one spot component temperature, Tspot = 3060 K (M5V) with an AV of 0.3. We find values of fspot to vary between 0.77 and 0.94 with an average uncertainty of ∼0.04. The variability of fspot is periodic and correlates with its 3.374 day rotational period. Using a mean value for fmeanspot to represent the total spot coverage, we calculated spot corrected values for Teff and L⋆. Placing these values alongside evolutionary models developed for heavily spotted young stars, we infer mass and age ranges of 0.45-0.6 M⊙ and 0.50-1.25 Myr, respectively. These inferred values represent a twofold increase in the mass and a twofold decrease in the age as compared to standard evolutionary models. Such a result highlights the need for constraining the contributions of cool and warm regions of young stellar atmospheres when estimating Teff and L⋆ to infer masses and ages as well as the necessity for models to account for the effects of these regions on the early evolution of low-mass stars.
Abstract Copyright:
© 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.
Journal keyword(s):
T Tauri stars - Star formation - Early stellar evolution - Starspots - Pre-main sequence stars - Stellar evolutionary tracks
Simbad objects:
17
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