Statistics
Scientific paper
Dec 1994
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994phdt.......253c&link_type=abstract
Ph.D. thesis, Univ. Paris, (1994)
Statistics
8
Scientific paper
T Tauri Stars (TTS) are young (<= 107 yrs) low mass (<= 2 Modot) stars. They have been originally characterized by strong emission lines (CTTS), and by IR excesses interpreted in terms of circumstellar disks. Ten years ago, the ``Einstein" satellite discovered the extraordinary X-ray activity of young low-mass stars. This activity, presumably magnetic in origin, is interpreted in terms of solar type flares, but up to 105 times more powerful than on the Sun. It also allowed to discover a new class of T Tauri stars called ``Weak line T Tauri Stars", without emission lines or IR excess and presumably without disk, which are 3 to 10 times more numerous than the CTTS. The ROSAT satellite, launched in 1990, has a much better resolution and sensitivity than ``Einstein". This work is based on the first ROSAT observations of molecular clouds, which are the stellar nurseries. 1) ROSAT X-ray study of the Chamaeleon cloud (see also Feigelson et al. 1993, ApJ, 416, 623). Using an important sample of young stars (60) in the Chamaeleon I star forming region, we have studied the influence of various stellar parameters on the X-ray emission. We find unexpected correlations of the X-ray luminosity with the stellar mass, radius and luminosity, but we could not detect any effect of rotation or age. These results are still unexplained by the standard dynamo theory of generation of a magnetic field. We show that the X-ray luminosity fonctions are the same for CTTS and WTTS which indicates that the X-ray emission mecanism is independent of the circumstellar disk, and that the X-rays can be used as a homogeneous tracer of all TTS. 2) ROSAT X-ray study of the ρ Oph Cloud (see also Casanova et al., 1995, ApJ, 439, 752). We show that the X-rays do also detect sources deeeply embedded in molecular clouds which are certainly very young. In fact it seems that even protostars (age ~105 yrs) are detected. For the embedded sources we estimate the bolometric luminosity from the dereddened J (1.25 microns) magnitude, and we findthe same correlation with the X-ray luminosity than for the visible stars of the Chamaeleon Cloud. Thanks to the near equality of the absorption in the keV X-ray and J bands we derive a relation between the X-ray counts and J magnitude which may be used as a selection criterion for the young stars. We also discuss the influence of the X-rays on the interstellar gas and dust. 3) Young stars far from dense cores. We then present the preliminary results of an on-going program of optical spectroscopy carried out at La Palma and ESO to caracterize the counterparts of new ROSAT sources far from the ρ Oph dense core. Thanks to the detection of the lithium absorption line and of the Hα emission line we classiify most of them as CTTS or WTTS. We show that great differences in the density of sources, in the WTTS/CTTS ratio and in the equivalent width of the lithium line exist between regions relatively close to one another in the sky. One possibility could be that these stars outside the dense core may be older, possibly ``Post T Tauri" Stars, on their way to the main sequence. 4) Variability of the Xray emission of T Tauri stars. The last part of the thesis deals with the study of time variability of the X-ray emission of TTS. These sources show evidence of variabilility both in the form of rare strong events (eruptions) and of more subtle variations of the presumed ``quiescent" emission. In some cases, we have access to the heating and cooling timescales which constrain some parameters of the plasma confined in flare loops. It is important to note that the X-ray emission of all strong sources is variable, which indicates that probably only the lack of statistics may prevent the detection of flares for the faint sources. Besides, a circumstellar disk has no influence on the variability of the star. In conclusion, X-ray are necessary to have access to the total population of young solar-type stars. They should allow to understand better the process of stellar formation and the evolution from the protostar down to the main sequence.
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