Do accretion discs regulate the rotation of young stars?

Abstract

We present a photometric study of I-band variability in the young cluster IC 348. The main purpose of the study was to identify periodic stars. In all we find 50 periodic stars, of which 32 were previously unknown. For the first time in IC 348, we discover periods in significant numbers of lower-mass stars (M < 0.25 Msun) and classical T-Tauri stars. This increased sensitivity to periodicities is due to the enhanced depth and temporal density of our observations, compared with previous studies. The period distribution is at first glance similar to that seen in the Orion Nebula Cluster, with the higher-mass stars (M > 0.25 Msun) showing a bi-modal period distribution concentrated around periods of 2 and 8 days, and the lower-mass stars showing a uni-modal distribution, heavily biassed towards fast rotators. Closer inspection of the period distribution shows that the higher mass stars show a significant dearth of fast rotators, compared to the Orion Nebula Cluster, whilst the low mass stars are rotating significantly faster than those in Orion. We find no correlation between rotation period and K-L colour or H-alpha equivalent width. We also present a discussion of our own IC 348 data in the context of previously published period distributions for the Orion Nebula Cluster, the Orion Flanking Fields and NGC 2264. We find that the previously claimed correlation between infrared excess and rotation period in the ONC might in fact result from a correlation between infrared excess and mass. We also find a marked difference in period distributions between NGC 2264 and IC 348, which presents a serious challenge to the disc locking paradigm, given the similarity in ages and disc fractions between the two clusters.

arXiv comment13 pages, accepted for publication in MNRAS. Electronic data available at http://www.astro.ex.ac.uk/people/timn/Catalogues/description.html

References in corpus (17)

• The Formation of a Star Cluster: Predicting the Properties of Stars and Brown Dwarfs
• A Census of the Young Cluster IC 348
• A rotational and variability study of a large sample of PMS stars in NGC 2264
• The spin of accreting stars: dependence on magnetic coupling to the disc
• Circumstellar Disks in the IC 348 Cluster
• Infrared Signatures of Protoplanetary Disk Evolution
• Eclipses by a Circumstellar Dust Feature in the Pre-Main Sequence Star KH15D
• Optimal photometry for colour-magnitude diagrams and its application to NGC 2547
• Disk-locking and the presence of slow rotators among solar-type stars in young star clusters
• A Multi-Year Photometric Study of IC 348
• Fine Structure in the Circumstellar Environment of a Young, Solar-like Star: the Unique Eclipses of KH 15D
• A Critique of Current Magnetic-Accretion Models for Classical T-Tauri Stars
• A Variability Study of Pre-Main Sequence Stars in the Extremely Young Cluster IC 348
• Angular Momentum Evolution of Stars in the Orion Nebula Cluster
• Does Disk Locking Solve the Stellar Angular Momentum Problem?
• On the Nature of Collinder 121: Insights from the Low-Mass Pre-Main Sequence
• Evidence for high accretion-rates in Weak-Line T Tauri stars?

Cited by in corpus (32)

• On the angular momentum evolution of fully-convective stars: rotation periods for field M-dwarfs from the MEarth transit survey
• Pre-main-sequence isochrones -- II. Revising star and planet formation timescales
• Testing the Disk Regulation Paradigm with Spitzer Observations. II. A Clear Signature of Star-Disk Interaction in NGC 2264 and the Orion Nebula Cluster
• Precision photometric monitoring of very low mass Sigma Orionis cluster members: variability and rotation at a few Myr
• Empirical isochrones and relative ages for young stars, and the radiative-convective gap
• IN-SYNC I: Homogeneous Stellar Parameters from High Resolution APOGEE Spectra for Thousands of Pre-main Sequence Star
• Spin Evolution of Accreting Young Stars. I. Effect of Magnetic Star-Disk Coupling
• Infrared Variability of Evolved Protoplanetary Disks: Evidence for Scale Height Variations in the Inner Disk
• Testing the Disk Regulation Paradigm with Spitzer Observations. I. Rotation Periods of Pre-main Sequence Stars in the IC 348 Cluster
• Can variability account for apparent age spreads in OB association colour-magnitude diagrams?
• The rotational evolution of low-mass stars
• Accretion discs as regulators of stellar angular momentum evolution in the ONC and Taurus-Auriga
• Rotation of young stars in Cepheus OB3b
• The Variability and Rotation of Pre-main Sequence Stars in IC 348: Does Intracluster Environment Influence Stellar Rotation?
• A Pulsation Search Among Young Brown Dwarfs and Very Low Mass Stars
• Accretion-induced luminosity spreads in young clusters: evidence from stellar rotation
• The Highly Dynamic Behavior of the Innermost Dust and Gas in the Transition Disk Variable LRLL 31
• X-ray activity and rotation of the young stars in IC 348
• Pre-main sequence variable stars in young open cluster NGC 1893
• A SCUBA-2 850 micron Survey of Protoplanetary Discs in the IC 348 Cluster
• Evidence for early disk-locking among low-mass members of the Orion Nebula Cluster
• Variable stars in young open star cluster NGC 7380
• Rotation-disk connection for very low mass and substellar objects in the Orion Nebula Cluster
• Near-Infrared Time-Series Photometry in the Field of Cygnus OB2 Association I - Rotational Scenario For Candidate Members
• Long-Term Photometry of IC 348 with the YETI Network
• Optimal placement of a limited number of observations for period searches
• Pre-main-sequence variability across the radiative-convective gap
• Astrophysics in 2005
• Fast Photometric Variability of Very Low Mass Stars in IC 348: Detection of Superflare in an M-dwarf
• Evidence for disc regulation in the lowest-mass stars of the young stellar cluster NGC 2264
• Photometric variability of the pre-main sequence stars towards the Sh 2-190 region
• Optical Photometric Variable Stars towards Cygnus OB7