On the Nature of the T Tauri Triple System

Abstract

Abstract We present a multiwavelength analysis to reveal the nature of the enigmatic T Tauri triple star system. New optical and infrared measurements are coupled with archival X-ray, UV, and millimeter data sets to show the morphologies of disk material and outflow kinematics. A dark lane of obscuring material is seen in silhouette in several emission lines and in model-subtracted ALMA millimeter continuum dust residuals near the position of T Tau Sa+Sb, revealing the attenuating circumbinary ring around T Tau S. The flux variability of T Tau S is linked in part to the binary orbit; T Tau Sb brightens near orbital apastron as it emerges from behind circumbinary material. Outflow diagnostics confirm that T Tau N powers the blueshifted western outflow, and the T Tau S binary drives the northwest-southeastern flow. Analysis of the southern outflow shows periodic arcs ejected from the T Tau system. Correlation of these arc locations and tangential kinematics with the orbit timing suggests that launch of the last four southern outflow ejections is contemporaneous with, and perhaps triggered by, the T Tau Sa+Sb binary periastron passage. We present a geometry of the T Tau triple that has the southern components foreground to T Tau N, obscured by a circumbinary ring, with misaligned disks and interacting outflows. Particularly, a wind from T Tauri Sa that is perpendicular to its circumstellar disk might interact with the circumbinary material, which may explain conflicting high-contrast measurements of the system outflows in the literature. T Tauri is an important laboratory for understanding early dynamical processes in young multiple systems. We discuss the historical and future characteristics of the system in this context.