A Plasma Torus Around a Young Low-Mass Star

The preprint operates within the paradigm of stellar magnetism and its influence on circumstellar material. This paradigm assumes that magnetic fields play a key role in shaping the environment around stars, especially young, rapidly rotating ones.

This preprint presents evidence for a plasma torus around a young, low-mass star, a phenomenon not predicted by the existing starspot-only explanation for complex periodic variables (CPVs). This observation challenges the current understanding of CPVs, suggesting a need for modifications or extensions to the existing models. The detection of cool plasma clumps trapped in corotation around the star supports the alternative hypothesis of circumstellar material influencing the light curves of CPVs. However, the exact nature and origin of this material, and its long-term implications for the star and potential exoplanets, are still uncertain. This places the research in a stage of Model Drift, where existing models are being challenged but not yet overthrown. There are elements of Model Crisis, as the starspot-only explanation is facing difficulties, but a full-blown crisis would require more comprehensive alternative models and a broader consensus on the limitations of current understanding. More data are needed to determine the material composition and origin and thus definitively distinguish between Model Drift and Model Crisis.