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Published April 2012 | Published
Journal Article Open

Mechanical equilibrium of hot, large-scale magnetic loops on T Tauri stars

Abstract

The most extended, closed magnetic loops inferred on T Tauri stars confine hot, X-ray-emitting plasma at distances from the stellar surface beyond the X-ray-bright corona and closed large-scale field, distances comparable to the corotation radius. Mechanical equilibrium models have shown that dense condensations, or 'slingshot prominences', can rise to great heights due to their density and temperatures cooler than their environs. On T Tauri stars, however, we detect plasma at temperatures hotter than the ambient coronal temperature. By previous model results, these loops should not reach the inferred heights of tens of stellar radii where they likely no longer have the support of the external field against magnetic tension. In this work, we consider the effects of a stellar wind and show that indeed hot loops that are negatively buoyant can attain a mechanical equilibrium at heights above the typical extent of the closed corona and the corotation radius.

Additional Information

© 2012 The Authors. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2012 RAS. Accepted 2011 December 22. Received 2011 December 12; in original form 2011 November 14. Article first published online: 1 Mar. 2012. AA acknowledges support for this work from NSF AST-0808072 (PI: K. Stassun) and an STFC visitor grant. SGG is supported by NASA grant HST-GO-11616.07-A. JL acknowledges the support of an STFC studentship.

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