A Consistent Model of the Accretion Shock Region in Classical T Tauri Stars

Abstract

We develop a consistent model of the accretion shock region in Classical T Tauri Stars (CTTSs). The initial conditions of the post-shock flow are determined by the irradiated shock precursor and the ionization state is calculated without assuming ionization equilibrium. Comparison with observations of the C IV resonance lines (λλ 1550 Å) for CTTSs indicate that the post-shock emission predicted by the model is too large, for a reasonable range of parameters. If the model is to reproduce the observations, C IV emission from CTTSs has to be dominated by pre-shock emission, for stars with moderate to large accretion rates. For stars with low accretion rates, the observations suggest a comparable contribution between the pre- and post-shock regions. These conclusions are consistent with previous results indicating that the post-shock will be buried under the stellar photosphere for moderate to large accretion rates.