Probing the magnetospheric accretion region of the young pre-transitional disk system DoAr 44 using VLTI/GRAVITY

Abstract

Context. Young stellar objects are thought to accrete material from their circumstellar disks through their strong stellar magnetospheres.

Aims. We aim to directly probe the magnetospheric accretion region on a scale of a few 0.01 au in a young stellar system using long-baseline optical interferometry.

Methods. We observed the pre-transitional disk system DoAr 44 with VLTI/GRAVITY on two consecutive nights in the K-band. We computed interferometric visibilities and phases in the continuum and in the Br gamma line in order to constrain the extent and geometry of the emitting regions.

Results. We resolve the continuum emission of the inner dusty disk and measure a half-flux radius of 0.14 au. We derive the inclination and position angle of the inner disk, which provides direct evidence that the inner and outer disks are misaligned in this pre-transitional system. This may account for the shadows previously detected in the outer disk. We show that Br gamma emission arises from an even more compact region than the inner disk, with an upper limit of 0.047 au (5 R-& x22c6;). Differential phase measurements between the Br gamma line and the continuum allow us to measure the astrometric displacement of the Br gamma line-emitting region relative to the continuum on a scale of a few tens of microarcsec, corresponding to a fraction of the stellar radius.

Conclusions. Our results can be accounted for by a simple geometric model where the Br gamma line emission arises from a compact region interior to the inner disk edge, on a scale of a few stellar radii, fully consistent with the concept of magnetospheric accretion process in low-mass young stellar systems.