Spectrophotometric analysis of the T Tauri star GQ Lupi A

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

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Stars: Pre-Main Sequence, Stars: Activity, Techniques: Spectroscopic, Accretion, Accretion Disks

Scientific paper

Context: GQ Lup A is a classical T Tauri star that shows clear signs of accretion through the presence of inverse P Cygni profiles in its main emission lines. Recently, Neuhäuser et al. (2005, A&A, 435, L13) found a co-moving sub-stellar companion of GQ Lup A, raising the importance of determining precise stellar parameters, system age, and distance to GQ Lup. Aims: Our main objective is to use spectrophotometric time series to determine GQ Lup A stellar parameters and predict its photospheric spectral distribution. The excess spectral luminosity can then be measured and employed to test predictions of magnetospheric accretion models of classical T Tauri stars. Methods: We present the analysis of 18 spectrophotometric observations of the T Tauri star GQ Lup A (K7) obtained with the Boller & Chivens spectrograph at the 1.52 m ESO telescope in La Silla. We also revisited archival photometric data of this star, comparing previous light curve variability with our more recent data. Results: We determined the photospheric flux of GQ Lup A on each observing night and obtained the stellar radius (Rstar = 1.8 ± 0.3 R&sun;), adopting a mean distance of 150 ± 20 pc to the Lupus 1 cloud. Assuming a K7 V temperature of 4060 K, the luminosity of GQ Lup A is Lstar = 0.8 ± 0.3 L&sun;. Standard evolutionary models indicate a stellar mass of Mstar = 0.8 ± 0.2 M&sun; and an age of 3 ± 2 Myr. GQ Lup A spectral lines are consistent with a projected rotational velocity of v sin i = 6.5 ± 2.0 km s-1. We measured the excess emission - veiling - and used the resulting photospheric spectral distribution to calculate a stellar extinction (A_V) of 0.5 ± 0.1. The veiling was found to be variable and periodic at 10.7 ± 1.6 days, which is consistent with the period of GQ Lup A obtained from archival B band photometric data (10.43 ± 0.12 days). The star exhibits strong emission lines with substantial variability in flux. The emission line fluxes are strongly correlated with one another but not with veiling.

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