High resolution X-ray spectroscopy of pre-main-sequence stars: TWA 5 and PZ Tel

Abstract

We report on the analysis of high resolution X-ray spectra of two pre-main-sequence stars: TWA 5 (observed with XMM-Newton) and PZ Telescopii (observed with Chandra/HETGS). TWA 5 is a classical T Tauri star in the TW Hydrae association while PZ Tel is a rapidly rotating weak-lined T Tauri star in the beta-Pictoris moving group. For both stars we have reconstructed the emission measure distribution and derived the coronal abundances to check for possible patterns of the abundances related to the first ionization potential of the various elements. We have also derived estimates of the plasma density from the analysis of the He-like triplets. We compare the characteristics of our targets with those of other pre-main sequence stars previously analyzed by other authors: TW Hya, HD 98800 and HD 283572. Our findings suggest that X-ray emission from classical T Tauri and weak-lined T Tauri stars is produced in all cases by magnetically-heated coronae, except for TW Hya which has unique plasma temperatures and densities. Moreover we derive that TWA 5 has the same peculiar Ne/Fe abundance ratio as TW Hya.