  Classical T Tauri stars (cTTs) accrete from their circumstellar disk. The
material falls onto the stellar surface, producing an accretion shock, which
generates veiling in a star's spectra. In addition, the shock causes a
localized accretion spot at the level of the chromosphere. Our goal is to
investigate the accretion, particularly the mass accretion rates (Macc), for
the cTTs DK Tau, over two periods of 17 and 29 days, using two different
procedures for comparison purposes. The first method relies on the derivation
of the accretion luminosity via accretion-powered emission lines. The second
compares the variability of the optical veiling with accretion shock models to
determine mass accretion rates. We used observations taken in 2010 and 2012
with the ESPaDOnS spectropolarimeter at the CFHT. We find peak values of the
veiling (at 550 nm) ranging from 0.2 to 1.3, with a steeper trend across the
wavelength range for higher peak values. When using the accretion-powered
emission lines, we find mass accretion rate values ranging from
log(Macc[Msol/yr]) = -8.20 to log(Macc[Msol/yr]) = -7.40. This agrees with the
values found in the literature, as well as the values calculated using the
accretion shock models and the veiling. In addition, we identify a power-law
correlation between the values of the accretion luminosity and the optical
veiling. For the 2010 observations, using the values of the filling factors
(which represent the area of the star covered by an accretion spot) derived
from the shock models, we infer that the accretion spot was located between +45
degrees and +75 degrees in latitude. We show that both methods of determining
the mass accretion rate yield similar results. We also present a helpful means
of confirming the accretion luminosity values by measuring the veiling at a
single wavelength in the optical.
