The weak-line T Tauri star V410 Tau -: II.: A flaring star

We show that V410 Tau, a weak-line T Tauri star, is a flaring star. This result comes from an intensive, coordinated monitoring campaign carried out in November 2001 at visible and X-ray wavelength ranges. It is confirmed by previous, isolated observations found in the literature. Flares tend to occur mainly around the star's minimum brightness, when the most active regions face us. We report on the strongest flare detected up to now on this star, for which we have obtained simultaneous visible Stromgren photometry and intermediate resolution spectroscopy. We derive decay times from 3 to 0.7 h at several wavelengths for the continuum in the 3600-5600 Angstrom range. We estimate the energy involved in this and the other flares for which we have good time sampling, and conclude that the strongest event, at least, could have important consequences for the matter in the surroundings of the star. If similar events took place on the young Sun and lasted for several Myr, they could explain the anomalous abundances of elemental isotopes found in some meteorites. They could have also contributed to eliminate part of the primary atmospheres of the planet embryos and would have provided enough energy for the melting of solid iron-magnesium silicates, a process that may explain the presence of chondrules in chondritic meteorites. High resolution spectroscopy of the H-alpha emission line in the quiescent states of V410 Tau enables us to study the variability of the broad component. We suggest that this component is related to microflaring activity, such as the one observed on more evolved, magnetically-active stars. The large velocities and the energy associated with this component support this hypothesis.