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Register a new userA gap in HD 92945s broad planetesimal disc revealed by ALMA
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In the last few years, multiwavelength observations have revealed the ubiquity of gaps/rings in circumstellar discs. Here we report the first ALMA observations of HD 92945 at 0.86 mm, that reveal a gap at about 73$pm$3 au within a broad disc of planetesimals that extends from 50 to 140 au. We find that the gap is $20^{+10}_{-8}$ au wide. If cleared by a planet in situ, this planet must be less massive than 0.6 $M_mathrm{Jup}$, or even lower if the gap was cleared by a planet that formed early in the protoplanetary disc and prevented planetesimal formation at that radius. By comparing opposite sides of the disc we also find that the disc could be asymmetric. Motivated by the asymmetry and the fact that planets might be more frequent closer to the star in exoplanetary systems, we show that the gap and asymmetry could be produced by two planets interior to the disc through secular resonances. These planets excite the eccentricity of bodies at specific disc locations, opening radial gaps in the planetesimal distribution. New observations are necessary to confirm if the disc is truly asymmetric, thus favouring the secular resonance model, or if the apparent asymmetry is due to a background galaxy, favouring the in-situ planet scenario. Finally, we also report the non-detection of CO and HCN gas confirming that no primordial gas is present. The CO and HCN non-detections are consistent with the destruction of volatile-rich Solar System-like comets.
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While detecting low mass exoplanets at tens of au is beyond current instrumentation, debris discs provide a unique opportunity to study the outer regions of planetary systems. Here we report new ALMA observations of the 80-200 Myr old Solar analogue HD 107146 that reveal the radial structure of its exo-Kuiper belt at wavelengths of 1.1 and 0.86 mm. We find that the planetesimal disc is broad, extending from 40 to 140 au, and it is characterised by a circular gap extending from 60 to 100 au in which the continuum emission drops by about 50%. We also report the non-detection of the CO J=3-2 emission line, confirming that there is not enough gas to affect the dust distribution. To date, HD 107146 is the only gas-poor system showing multiple rings in the distribution of millimeter sized particles. These rings suggest a similar distribution of the planetesimals producing small dust grains that could be explained invoking the presence of one or more perturbing planets. Because the disk appears axisymmetric, such planets should be on circular orbits. By comparing N-body simulations with the observed visibilities we find that to explain the radial extent and depth of the gap, it would be required the presence of multiple low mass planets or a single planet that migrated through the disc. Interior to HD 107146s exo-Kuiper belt we find extended emission with a peak at ~20 au and consistent with the inner warm belt that was previously predicted based on 22$mu$m excess as in many other systems. This warm belt is the first to be imaged, although unexpectedly suggesting that it is asymmetric. This could be due to a large belt eccentricity or due to clumpy structure produced by resonant trapping with an additional inner planet.
The combination of high resolution and sensitivity offered by ALMA is revolutionizing our understanding of protoplanetary discs, as their bulk gas and dust distributions can be studied independently. In this paper we present resolved ALMA observations of the continuum emission ($lambda=1.3$ mm) and CO isotopologues ($^{12}$CO, $^{13}$CO, C$^{18}$O $J=2-1$) integrated intensity from the disc around the nearby ($d = 162$ pc), intermediate mass ($M_{star}=1.67,M_{odot}$) pre-main-sequence star CQ Tau. The data show an inner depression in continuum, and in both $^{13}$CO and C$^{18}$O emission. We employ a thermo-chemical model of the disc reproducing both continuum and gas radial intensity profiles, together with the disc SED. The models show that a gas inner cavity with size between 15 and 25 au is needed to reproduce the data with a density depletion factor between $sim 10^{-1}$ and $sim 10^{-3}$. The radial profile of the distinct cavity in the dust continuum is described by a Gaussian ring centered at $R_{rm dust}=53,$au and with a width of $sigma=13,$au. Three dimensional gas and dust numerical simulations of a disc with an embedded planet at a separation from the central star of $sim20,$au and with a mass of $sim 6textrm{-} 9,M_{rm Jup}$ reproduce qualitatively the gas and dust profiles of the CQ Tau disc. However, a one planet model appears not to be able to reproduce the dust Gaussian density profile predicted using the thermo-chemical modeling.
We present Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) Cycle 2 observations of the 1.3 mm dust continuum emission of the protoplanetary disc surrounding the T Tauri star Elias 24 with an angular resolution of $sim 0.2$ ($sim 28$ au). The dust continuum emission map reveals a dark ring at a radial distance of $0.47$ ($sim 65$ au) from the central star, surrounded by a bright ring at $0.58$ ($sim 81$ au). In the outer disc, the radial intensity profile shows two inflection points at $0.71$ and $0.87$ ($sim 99$ and $121$ au respectively). We perform global three-dimensional smoothed particle hydrodynamic gas/dust simulations of discs hosting a migrating and accreting planet. Combining the dust density maps of small and large grains with three dimensional radiative transfer calculations, we produce synthetic ALMA observations of a variety of disc models in order to reproduce the gap- and ring-like features observed in Elias 24. We find that the dust emission across the disc is consistent with the presence of an embedded planet with a mass of $sim 0.7, mathrm{M_{mathrm{J}}}$ at an orbital radius of $sim$ 60 au. Our model suggests that the two inflection points in the radial intensity profile are due to the inward radial motion of large dust grains from the outer disc. The surface brightness map of our disc model provides a reasonable match to the gap- and ring-like structures observed in Elias 24, with an average discrepancy of $sim$ 5% of the observed fluxes around the gap region.
One of the defining properties of debris discs compared to protoplanetary discs used to be their lack of gas, yet small amounts of gas have been found around an increasing number of debris discs in recent years. These debris discs found to have gas tend to be both young and bright. In this paper we conduct a deep search for CO gas in the system HD 95086 - a 17 Myr old, known planet host that also has a debris disc with a high fractional luminosity of $1.5times10^{-3}$. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) we search for CO emission lines in bands 3, 6 and 7. By implementing a spectro-spatial filtering technique, we find tentative evidence for CO $J$=2-1 emission in the disc located at a velocity, 8.5$pm$0.2 km s$^{-1}$, consistent with the radial velocity of the star. The tentative detection suggests that the gas on the East side of the disc is moving towards us. In the same region where continuum emission is detected, we find an integrated line flux of 9.5$pm$3.6 mJy km s$^{-1}$, corresponding to a CO mass of (1.4-13)$times10^{-6}$ M$_oplus$. Our analysis confirms that the level of gas present in the disc is inconsistent with the presence of primordial gas in the system and is consistent with second generation production through the collisional cascade.
HD 163296 is one of the few protoplanetary discs displaying rings in the dust component. The present work uses ALMA observations of the 0.9 mm continuum emission having significantly better spatial resolution (~8 au) than previously available, providing new insight on the morphology of the dust disc and its double ring structure. The disc is shown to be thin and its position angle and inclination with respect to the sky plane are accurately measured as are the locations and shapes that characterize the observed ring/gap structure. Significant modulation of the intensity of the outer ring emission have been revealed and discussed. In addition, earlier ALMA observations of the emission of three molecular lines, CO(2-1), C18O(2-1), and DCO+(3-2), having a resolution of ~70 au, are used to demonstrate the Keplerian motion of the gas, found consistent with a central mass of 2.3 solar masses. An upper limit of ~9% of the rotation velocity is placed on the in-fall velocity. The beam size is shown to give the dominant contribution to the line widths, accounting for both their absolute values and their dependence on the distance to the central star.
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