The Mdot - M* relation of pre-main sequence stars: a consequence of X-ray driven disc evolution

Abstract

We analyse current measurements of accretion rates onto pre-main sequence stars as a function of stellar mass, and conclude that the steep dependance of accretion rates on stellar mass is real and not driven by selection/detection threshold, as has been previously feared. These conclusions are reached by means of statistical tests including a survival analysis which can account for upper limits. The power-law slope of the Mdot-M* relation is found to be in the range of 1.6-1.9 for young stars with masses lower than 1 Msun. The measured slopes and distributions can be easily reproduced by means of a simple disc model which includes viscous accretion and X-ray photoevaporation. We conclude that the Mdot-M* relation in pre-main sequence stars bears the signature of disc dispersal by X-ray photoevaporation, suggesting that the relation is a straight- forward consequence of disc physics rather than an imprint of initial conditions.

9 pages, 6 Figures, 2 Tables, accepted by MNRAS

References in corpus (16)

• Photoevaporation of protoplanetary discs II: evolutionary models and observable properties
• UV excess measures of accretion onto young very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs
• The XMM-Newton Extended Survey of the Taurus Molecular Cloud (XEST)
• Accretion in the Rho-Oph pre-main sequence stars
• Photoevaporation of protoplanetary discs I: hydrodynamic models
• Accretion Rates in Herbig Ae stars
• High-Resolution Spectroscopy in Tr37: Gas Accretion Evolution in Evolved Dusty Disks
• Accretion in protoplanetary disks: the imprint of core properties
• Measuring tiny mass accretion rates onto young brown dwarfs
• The stellar mass-accretion rate relation in T Tauri stars and brown dwarfs
• The $\dot{M}-M$ relationship in pre-main sequence stars
• `Tail-end' Bondi-Hoyle accretion in young star clusters: Implications for disks, planets, and stars
• Accretion properties of T Tauri stars in sigma Ori
• Accretion in rho-Ophiuchi brown dwarfs: infrared hydrogen line ratios
• Rotationally Modulated X-ray Emission from T Tauri Stars
• Disc evolution and the relationship between $L_{\mathrm{acc}}$ and $L_{\ast }$ in T Tauri stars

Cited by in corpus (30)

• X-Shooter spectroscopy of young stellar objects in Lupus: Accretion properties of class II and transitional objects
• A Steeper than Linear Disk Mass-Stellar Mass Scaling Relation
• Accretion disks in luminous young stellar objects
• X-Shooter study of accretion in Chamaeleon I
• Infall-Driven Protostellar Accretion and the Solution to the Luminosity Problem
• Constraints from Dust Mass and Mass Accretion Rate Measurements on Angular Momentum Transport in Protoplanetary Disks
• The protoplanetary disk population in the rho-Ophiuchi region L1688 and the time evolution of Class II YSOs
• PENELLOPE: the ESO data legacy program to complement the Hubble UV Legacy Library of Young Stars (ULLYSES) I. Survey presentation and accretion properties of Orion OB1 and $\sigma$-Orionis
• The dispersal of protoplanetary discs. II: Photoevaporation models with observationally derived irradiating spectra
• X-shooter spectroscopy of young stars with disks. The TW Hydrae association as a probe of the final stages of disk accretion
• A dusty origin for the correlation between protoplanetary disc accretion rates and dust masses
• POISSON project - III - Investigating the evolution of the mass accretion rate
• Radiation pressure clear-out of dusty photoevaporating discs
• On the origin of the correlations between the accretion luminosity and emission line luminosities in pre-main sequence stars
• Satellites Form Fast & Late: a Population Synthesis for the Galilean Moons
• The long-term evolution of photoevaporating transition discs with giant planets
• Inside-Out Planet Formation. IV. Pebble Evolution and Planet Formation Timescales
• Strong Biases in Estimating the Time Dependence of Mass Accretion Rates in Young Stars
• Migration and Growth of Protoplanetary Embryos III: Mass and Metallicity Dependence for FGKM main-sequence stars
• Astro & cosmo-chemical consequences of accretion bursts I: the D/H ratio of water
• The importance of X-ray frequency in driving photoevaporative winds
• On the time evolution of the $M_{\mathrm{d}}-M_{\star }$ and $\dot{M}-M_{\star }$ correlations for protoplanetary discs: the viscous timescale increases with stellar mass
• High-resolution [OI] line spectral mapping of TW Hya consistent with X-ray driven photoevaporation
• On the accretion properties of young stellar objects in the L1615/L1616 cometary cloud
• X-ray deficiency on strong accreting T Tauri stars - Comparing Orion with Taurus
• The Role of Angular Momentum Transport in Establishing the Accretion Rate--Protostellar Mass Correlation
• Importance of thermal diffusion in the gravo-magnetic limit cycle
• A probable Keplerian disk feeding an optically revealed massive young star
• Evolution of a Viscous Protoplanetary Disk with Convectively Unstable Regions. II. Accretion Regimes and Long-Term Dynamics
• The survivorship bias of protoplanetary disc populations