Architecture of Planetary Systems Predicted from Protoplanetary Disks Observed with ALMA. I. Mass of the Possible Planets Embedded in the Dust Gap

Recent ALMA observations have identified a variety of dust gaps in protoplanetary disks, which are commonly interpreted to be generated by unobserved planets. Predicting mass of such embedded planets is of fundamental importance in comparing those disk architectures with the observed diversity of exoplanets. The prediction, however, depends on the assumption that whether the same gap structure exists in the dust component alone or in the gas component as well. We assume a planet can only open a gap in the gas component when its mass exceeds the pebble isolation mass by considering the core-accretion scenario. We then propose two criteria to distinguish if a gap is opened in the dust disk alone or the gas gap as well when observation data on the gas profile is not available. We apply the criteria to 35 disk systems with a total of 55 gaps compiled from previous studies and classify each gap into four different groups. The classification of the observed gaps allows us to predict the mass of embedded planets in a consistent manner with the pebble isolation mass. We find that outer gaps are mostly dust alone, while inner gaps are more likely to be associated with a gas gap as well. The distribution of such embedded planets is very different from the architecture of the observed planetary systems, suggesting that significant inward migration is required in their evolution.

On the forms of accretion of interstellar gas and dust during the formation of single stars and their planetary systems

In this paper, the mechanisms of star formation and the formation of the equatorial gas and dust disk of protostars are considered. The viscous dynamics of the interstellar matter of gas and dust disks is mainly determined by perturbations of the matter density during gas accretion onto the equilibrium core of the protostar. Using the model of pulsating perturbations of the density of the gas-dust envelope of the protostar and the Navier-Stokes equations, the formulas for the dynamic viscosity of Keplerian and almost Keplerian disks are obtained. It is shown that in the regime of unstable equilibrium of the envelope, accretion of gas onto the core of the protostar begins. In the regime of stable equilibrium, the fragmentation of the gas-dust envelope and the equatorial disk of the protostar occurs. In the ring-shaped fragments of the disk, the process of formation of “embryos” of planets begins and accretion on the “embryos” of the planet also begins.

Infrared interferometric imaging of the compact dust disk around the AGB star HR3126 with the bipolar Toby Jug Nebula

Aims. The asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star HR3126, associated with the arcminute-scale bipolar Toby Jug Nebula, provides a rare opportunity to study the emergence of bipolar structures at the end of the AGB phase. Our goal is to image the central region of HR3126 with high spatial resolution. Methods. We carried out long-baseline interferometric observations with AMBER and GRAVITY (2–2.45 μm) at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer with spectral resolutions of 1500 and 4500, speckle interferometric observations with VLT/NACO (2.24 μm), and imaging with SPHERE-ZIMPOL (0.55 μm) and VISIR (7.9–19.5 μm). Results. The images reconstructed in the continuum at 2.1–2.29 μm from the AMBER+GRAVITY data reveal the central star surrounded by an elliptical ring-like structure with a semimajor and semiminor axis of 5.3 and 3.5 mas, respectively. The ring is interpreted as the inner rim of an equatorial dust disk viewed from an inclination angle of ~50°, and its axis is approximately aligned with the arcminute-scale bipolar nebula. The disk is surprisingly compact, with an inner radius of a mere 3.5 R⋆ (2 au). Our 2-D radiative transfer modeling shows that an optically thick flared disk with silicate grains as large as ~4 μm can simultaneously reproduce the observed continuum images and the spectral energy distribution. The images reconstructed in the CO first overtone bands reveal elongated extended emission around the central star, suggesting the oblateness of the star’s atmosphere or the presence of a CO gas disk inside the dust cavity. The object is unresolved with SPHERE-ZIMPOL, NACO, and VISIR. Conclusions. If the disk formed together with the bipolar nebula, the grain growth from sub-micron to a few microns should have taken place over the nebula’s dynamical age of ~3900 yrs. The non-detection of a companion in the reconstructed images implies that either its 2.2 μm brightness is more than ~30 times lower than that of the red giant or it might have been shredded due to binary interaction.

Gas extent in protoplanetary disks of the Lupus star forming region

<p>I will present a demographic study of the gas content in protoplanetary disks of the Lupus star-forming region, based on the previous ALMA surveys of the region.</p> <p>Planets form around stars during their pre-main sequence phase, when still surrounded by a circumstellar disk of dust and gas. Setting observational constraints on the gas and dust properties of protoplanetary disks is crucial in order to understand what are the ongoing physical processes in the disk. These processes shape the planet formation mechanisms, and ultimately tell us about the disk’s ability to form planets.</p> <p>The advent of ALMA allowed us to characterize dust properties in large populations of disks in several star-forming regions. Nevertheless, demographic studies of the gas content in these disk populations are scarce and generally incomplete, due to the fewer detections, and other difficulties when studying gas content.</p> <p>In this work, we were able to assemble a large and homogeneous sample of disks from the Lupus region, all detected in <sup>12</sup>CO and dust continuum. Gas emission profiles and sizes are estimated on 43 disks of the Lupus region. The profiles are inferred from the integrated emission maps of the <sup>12</sup>CO transition line in ALMA Band 6. The observed emission is modeled using empirical functions: either the Nuker profile or an elliptical Gaussian for more compact sources. The gas size, defined as a certain fraction (e.g. 68%) of the total flux, is inferred from the modeled emission profiles.</p> <p>These gas properties are then compared to the dust properties of the same objects, estimated from ALMA surveys in Band 7 and using analogous methodology.</p> <p>The relative size of gas and dust is a key diagnostic of dust evolution. Large dust grains are decoupled from gas and drift inwards. Thus, if dust growth is prominent in these disks, the detected dust continuum emission in sub-mm wavelengths are expected to be several times smaller than the gas extent.</p> <p>The results of our extensive sample confirm the larger gas size when compared to the dust size. The gas disk size is on average 2.6 times larger than the dust disk. This size difference can be explained by effective drifting of dust, but also by the optical depth difference between <sup>12</sup>CO and dust continuum. Disentangling between these two effects is in general difficult; only large size ratios (typically beyond 4) unequivocally exhibit prominent dust evolution.</p> <p>Only a small fraction (~18%) of the disk population has a size ratio larger than 4. Radial drift is intimately linked to grain growth, both are crucial processes to form the cores of planets. Our results might suggest that dust evolution is less common than previously thought.</p> <p>We also investigated possible trends of the size ratio with stellar and disk properties, e.g. stellar mass, disk mass, integrated CO flux; no clear correlation can be found. Interestingly, the only Brown Dwarf of the sample with characterized gas and dust disk sizes shows a relatively large ratio of 3.8. On the other stellar mass range end, disks around stars with mass > 0.8 M<sub>sun</sub> have a tentative lower ratio of 2.1. Larger samples in the low mass regime and in the rest of stellar mass ranges are needed in order to discern possible trends between spectral types or other properties of the host stars.</p>

Dust masses of young disks: constraining the initial solid reservoir for planet formation

Context. Recent years have seen building evidence that planet formation starts early, in the first ~0.5 Myr. Studying the dust masses available in young disks enables us to understand the origin of planetary systems given that mature disks are lacking the solid material necessary to reproduce the observed exoplanetary systems, especially the massive ones. Aims. We aim to determine if disks in the embedded stage of star formation contain enough dust to explain the solid content of the most massive exoplanets. Methods. We use Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Band 6 (1.1–1.3 mm) continuum observations of embedded disks in the Perseus star-forming region together with Very Large Array (VLA) Ka-band (9 mm) data to provide a robust estimate of dust disk masses from the flux densities measured in the image plane. Results. We find a strong linear correlation between the ALMA and VLA fluxes, demonstrating that emission at both wavelengths is dominated by dust emission. For a subsample of optically thin sources, we find a median spectral index of 2.5 from which we derive the dust opacity index β = 0.5, suggesting significant dust growth. Comparison with ALMA surveys of Orion shows that the Class I dust disk mass distribution between the two regions is similar, but that the Class 0 disks are more massive in Perseus than those in Orion. Using the DIANA opacity model including large grains, with a dust opacity value of κ9 mm = 0.28 cm2 g−1, the median dust masses of the embedded disks in Perseus are 158 M⊕ for Class 0 and 52 M⊕ for Class I from the VLA fluxes. The lower limits on the median masses from ALMA fluxes are 47 M⊕ and 12 M⊕ for Class 0 and Class I, respectively, obtained using the maximum dust opacity value κ1.3 mm = 2.3 cm2 g−1. The dust masses of young Class 0 and I disks are larger by at least a factor of ten and three, respectively, compared with dust masses inferred for Class II disks in Lupus and other regions. Conclusions. The dust masses of Class 0 and I disks in Perseus derived from the VLA data are high enough to produce the observed exoplanet systems with efficiencies acceptable by planet formation models: the solid content in observed giant exoplanets can be explained if planet formation starts in Class 0 phase with an efficiency of ~15%. A higher efficiency of ~30% is necessary if the planet formation is set to start in Class I disks.