VLT/MUSE Detection of Accretion/Ejection Associated with the Close Stellar Companion in the HT Lup System

Abstract

The accretion/ejection processes in T Tauri stars are fundamental to their physical evolution, while also impacting the properties and evolution of the circumstellar material at a time when planet formation takes place. To date, the characterization of ongoing accretion processes in stellar pairs at 5–50 au scales has been challenging as high-angular resolution spectrographs are required to extract the spectral features of each component. We present the analysis of spectroscopic observations of the tight (160 mas, 25 au) T Tauri system HT Lup A/B, obtained with MUSE at the Very Large Telescope in 2021 March and July. We focus on constraining the accretion/ejection processes and variability of the secondary component HT Lup B by searching for accretion tracers by applying high-resolution spectral differential imaging techniques. We retrieve strong (signal-to-noise ratio > 5) H α , H β, and [O i ] λ 6300 emission in both epochs. The H α and H β line fluxes showcase high variability, with variations up to 200%–300% between epochs. The fluxes are consistent with accretion rates of 3× 10 ^−9 M _⊙ yr ^−1 and 8 × 10 ^−10 M _⊙ yr ^−1 for the first and second epochs, respectively. We attribute the increased accretion activity during the first night to a “burst-like” event, followed by a relaxation period more representative of the common accretion activity of the system. The [O i ] λ 6300 line profiles remain relatively similar between epochs and suggest ejection rates on the order of 10 ^−9 −10 ^−10 M _⊙ yr ^−1 , compatible with moderate disk wind emission. Our results also indicate that the accretion processes of HT Lup B are compatible with Classical T Tauri stars, unlike previous classifications.

Keywords

• Binary stars
• Close binary stars
• High contrast spectroscopy
• High contrast techniques
• Direct imaging
• Stellar accretion