Astrophysics

The question of the mechanism of certain types of stars is important. Classical T Tauri (CTTS) stars accrete magnetospherically, and Herbig Ae/Be stars (higher-mass analogs to CTTS) are thought to also accrete magnetospherically, but the source of a kG magnetic field is unknown, since these stars have radiative interiors. For magnetospheric accretion, an equation has been derived (Hartmann, 2001) which relates the truncation radius, stellar radius, stellar mass, mass accretion rate and magnetic field strength. Currently the magnetic field of Herbig stars is known to be somewhere between 0.1 kG and 10 kG. One goal of this research is to further constrain the magnetic field. In order to do that, I use the magnetospheric accretion equation. For CTTS, all of the variables used in the equation can be measured, so I gather this data from the lit-erature and test the equation and find that it is consistent. Then I apply the equation to Herbig Ae stars and find that the error introduced from using random inclinations is too large to lower the current upper limit of the magnetic field range. If Herbi