A SPATIALLY RESOLVED INNER HOLE IN THE DISK AROUND GM AURIGAE

By A. Hughes, S. Andrews, Catherine C. Espaillat, D. Wilner, N. Calvet, P. D’Alessio, C. Qi, Jonathan P. Williams, M. Hogerheijde. 2009

135 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We present 0.″3 resolution observations of the disk around GM Aurigae with the Submillimeter Array (SMA) at a wavelength of 860 μm and with the Plateau de Bure Interferometer at a wavelength of 1.3 mm. These observations probe the distribution of disk material on spatial scales commensurate with the size of the inner hole predicted by models of the spectral energy distribution (SED). The data clearly indicate a sharp decrease in millimeter optical depth at the disk center, consistent with a deficit of material at distances less than ∼20 AU from the star. We refine the accretion disk model of Calvet et al. based on the unresolved SED and demonstrate that it reproduces well the spatially resolved millimeter continuum data at both available wavelengths. We also present complementary SMA observations of CO J = 3–2 and J = 2–1 emission from the disk at 2″ resolution. The observed CO morphology is consistent with the continuum model prediction, with two significant deviations: (1) the emission displays a larger CO J = 3–2/J = 2–1 line ratio than predicted, which may indicate additional heating of gas in the upper disk layers; and (2) the position angle of the kinematic rotation pattern differs by 11° ± 2° from that measured at smaller scales from the dust continuum, which may indicate the presence of a warp. We note that photoevaporation, grain growth, and binarity are unlikely mechanisms for inducing the observed sharp decrease in opacity or surface density at the disk center. The inner hole plausibly results from the dynamical influence of a planet on the disk material. Warping induced by a planet could also potentially explain the difference in position angle between the continuum and CO data sets.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Spectroscopy

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b4f1e707233228dbaef84b954267863c1f91bc0a

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. S. Andrews
2. D. Wilner
3. K. Luhman
4. Jonathan P. Williams
5. A. Kraus
6. L. Hillenbrand
7. L. Hartmann
8. N. Calvet

In Spectroscopy

1. D. Wilner
2. S. Andrews
3. K. Luhman
4. Jonathan P. Williams
5. A. Hughes
6. L. Hartmann
7. N. Calvet
8. C. Dullemond

Citations in the corpus

• Our astrochemical heritage (2012, background): “presence of crystalline silicates; [244]; [314]; [389]; [297]; [330]; [373]), inner holes (probably carved by a planet or by photoevaporation, [75]; [215]; [14]; [13]; [106]).”
• PROTOPLANETARY DISK STRUCTURES IN OPHIUCHUS. II. EXTENSION TO FAINTER SOURCES (2010, background): “…established the presence of vertical temperature and density gradients (Dartois et al. 2003; Piétu et al. 2007), and even identified disks with large central cavities that exhibit very little dust emission (Piétu et al. 2006; Hughes et al. 2007, 2009; Brown et al. 2008, 2009; Isella et al. 2010).”
• TRANSITIONAL AND PRE-TRANSITIONAL DISKS: GAP OPENING BY MULTIPLE PLANETS? (2010, methodology): “…to scales ∼ 5 to ∼ 50 AU (Marsh & Mahoney 1992; Calvet et al. 2002, 2005; Rice et al. 2003; Schneider et al. 2003; Espaillat et al. 2007, 2008, 2010; Hughes et al. 2009), an interpretation confirmed in some cases via direct sub-mm imaging (e.g., Pietu et al. 2006; Brown et al. 2007, 2009;…”
• Possible planet-forming regions on submillimetre images (2011, background): “Note that there exist further examples of discs showing non-axisymmetric submillimetre images, such as LkCa 15 (Piétu et al. 2006), GM Aur (Hughes et al. 2009), SR 24S (Andrews et al. 2010), and J1604-2130 (Williams & Cieza 2011) for which the same phenomenon might be responsible.”
• Protoplanetary Disks and Their Evolution (2011, background): “Hughes et al. (2009a) note a warp between the dust and gas structures in GM Aur.”
• THE ROLE OF MULTIPLICITY IN DISK EVOLUTION AND PLANET FORMATION (2011, background): “Several of our Taurus multiplicity survey targets have been suggested to have cleared gaps or inner holes, including GM Aur (Strom et al. 1989; Hughes et al. 2009), UX Tau and LkCa 15 (Espaillat et al. 2007), and CoKu Tau/4 (Forrest et al. 2004).”
• TRANSITIONAL DISKS AS SIGNPOSTS OF YOUNG, MULTIPLANET SYSTEMS (2011, methodology): “Stellar parameters and disk inclination are set to known values (Hughes et al. 2009; Andrews et al. 2011).”
• AN INFRARED/X-RAY SURVEY FOR NEW MEMBERS OF THE TAURUS STAR-FORMING REGION (2009, methodology): “Mid-IR spectroscopy and millimeter imaging of this disk are needed for a detailed characterization of the inner hole (Espaillat et al. 2007a,b; Furlan et al. 2007; Brown et al. 2008; Dutrey et al. 2008; Hughes et al. 2007, 2009).”
• Protoplanetary disc evolution and dispersal: the implications of X-ray photoevaporation (2010, background): “The symbols represent a sample of observations of solar-type objects classified as ‘transition’ discs by Espaillat et al. (2007a,b,2008,2010) - Red Circles, Hughes et al. (2009,2010) - Red Squares, Kim et al. (2009) - Red Diamonds, Calvet et al. (2005) - Black Diamonds, Meŕın et al. (2010) - Black ”
• PROTOPLANETARY DISK STRUCTURES IN OPHIUCHUS (2009, background): “A few such observations have even discovered large central cavities in the dust emission − potential signatures of young planetary systems (Piétu et al. 2006; Brown et al. 2008, 2009; Hughes et al. 2007, 2009).”
• DUST FILTRATION BY PLANET-INDUCED GAP EDGES: IMPLICATIONS FOR TRANSITIONAL DISKS (2012, result): “…to scales ∼ 5 to ∼ 50 AU (Marsh & Mahoney 1992; Calvet et al. 2002, 2005; Rice et al. 2003; Schneider et al. 2003; Espaillat et al. 2007, 2008, 2010; Hughes et al. 2009), an interpretation confirmed in some cases via direct sub-mm imaging (e.g., Pietu et al. 2006; Brown et al. 2007, 2009;…”
• A dual-frequency sub-arcsecond study of proto-planetary disks at mm wavelengths: first evidence for radial variations of the dust properties (2011, unknown): “This size has been confirmed by direct imaging of the dust emission at mm wavelengths (Hughes et al. 2009).”
• On the theory of disc photoevaporation (2011, background): “…and squares (Cieza et al. 2010); black open squares (Ercolano et al. 2009a); black filled squares (Espaillat et al. 2008, 2010); black open circles (Hughes et al. 2009, 2010); red filled circles (Kim et al. 2009); magenta filled diamonds (Merı́n et al. 2010); green filled star (Najita et al. 2010).”
• A Keplerian disk around a Class 0 source: ALMA observations of VLA1623A (2013, background): “…molecular lines in the Class II stage of star formation (Mannings & Sargent 1997; Guilloteau & Dutrey 1998; Guilloteau et al. 1999; Qi et al. 2004; Hughes et al. 2009; Rodriguez et al. 2010), while continuum disk-like structures, the so-called pseudo-disks, are reported in Class 0 objects…”
• RESOLVED IMAGES OF LARGE CAVITIES IN PROTOPLANETARY TRANSITION DISKS (2011, methodology): “Using some of the same SMA data, Hughes et al. (2009a) first resolved the central dust cavity.”
• EMPIRICAL CONSTRAINTS ON TURBULENCE IN PROTOPLANETARY ACCRETION DISKS (2010, background): “…et al. 2010; Flaig et al. 2010), but the resulting dependence of α and therefore turbulent velocity fluctuations on the magnitude of the magnetic field is troublesome, since magnetic field strengths and geometries in circumstellar disks are unconstrained by observations (e.g., Hughes et al. 2009b).”