Inclination effects in T Tauri star spectra

Context. Because of the presence of rotation and accretion disks, classical T Tauri stars have symmetry planes that are normally inclined relative to the plane of the sky. The inclination angles affect the observed spectral properties of these objects. Aims. We study the influence of the inclination angles on classical T Tauri star spectra in an empirical manner. Methods. Published inclination angles, derived from the stellar photospheric rotation or from spatially resolved circumstellar disk observations, are compared with various observed spectral properties, and correlations are established and investigated. Results. Inclinations derived from the stellar rotation are found to be much less accurate than the published disk inclinations, and no significant correlations between spectral properties and inclinations based on rotation data could be detected. In contrast, significant correlations are found between the disk inclination angles and the apparent velocities observed for the forbidden emission lines and the wind absorption features of permitted lines. These data support the assumption of cone-like polar winds with opening angles smaller than ≈45◦. Other spectral features show weaker or no inclination dependence. Using these results, the true (deprojected) flow velocities of the polar winds are derived for the investigated sample of T Tauri stars. Deprojected wind-ejection velocities appear to differ by a factor of two among the stars in our sample, which spans a range of mass-loss rates from 10−10 M /yr to 3 × 10−7 M /yr.