New results of magnetic field measurements for BP Tau

Abstract

We present measurements of the longitudinal magnetic field component B ‖ of the young star BP Tau in the He I 5876 emission line formation region, i.e., in the accretion flow near the stellar surface. The values obtained (≃1.7 kG and ≃1.0 kG in 2000 and 2001, respectively) agree with the results of similar measurements by other authors. At the same time, we show that the previously obtained field strength at the magnetic pole, B p, and the inclination of the magnetic axis to the rotation axis, β, are untrustworthy. In our opinion, based on the B ‖ measurements available to date, it is not possible to conclude whether the star’s magnetic field is a dipole one or has a more complex configuration and to solve the question of whether this field is stationary. However, we argue that at least in the He I 5876 line formation region, the star’s magnetic field is not stationary and can be restructured in a time of the order of several hours. Nonstationary small-scale magnetic fields of active regions on the stellar surface and/or magnetospheric field line reconnection due to the twisting of these field lines as the star rotates could be responsible for the short-term magnetic field variability. It seems highly likely that there are no strictly periodic variations in brightness and emission line profiles in BP Tau due to the irregular restructuring of the star’s magnetic field.