No Arabic abstract
We present Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) observations of TW Hya at 3.1 mm with $sim50$ milliarcsecond resolution. These new data were combined with archival high angular resolution ALMA observations at 0.87 mm, 1.3 mm, and 2.1 mm. We analyze these multi-wavelength data to infer a disk radial profile of the dust surface density, maximum particle size, and slope of the particle size distribution. Most previously known annular substructures in the disk of TW Hya are resolved at the four wavelengths. Inside the inner 3 au cavity, the 2.1 mm and 3.1 mm images show a compact source of free-free emission, likely associated with an ionized jet. Our multi-wavelength analysis of the dust emission shows that the maximum particle size in the disk of TW Hya is $>1$ mm. The inner 20 au are completely optically thick at all four bands, which results in the data tracing different disk heights at different wavelengths. Coupled with the effects of dust settling, this prevents the derivation of accurate density and grain size estimates in these regions. At $r>20$ au, we find evidence of the accumulation of large dust particle at the position of the bright rings, indicating that these are working as dust traps. The total dust mass in the disk is between 250 and 330 $M_{oplus}$, which represents a gas-to-dust mass ratio between 50 and 70. Our mass measurement is a factor of 4.5-5.9 higher than the mass that one would estimate using the typical assumptions of large demographic surveys. Our results indicate that the ring substructures in TW Hya are ideal locations to trigger the streaming instability and form new generations of planetesimals.
Dust continuum observation is one of the best methods to constrain the properties of protoplanetary disks. Recent theoretical studies have suggested that the dust scattering at the millimeter wavelength potentially reduces the observed intensity, which results in an underestimate in the dust mass. We investigate whether the dust scattering indeed reduces the observed continuum intensity by comparing the ALMA archival data of the TW Hya disk at Band 3, 4, 6, 7 and 9 to models obtained by radiative transfer simulations. We find that the model with scattering by 300 ${rm mu m}$-sized grains well reproduces the observed SED of the central part of the TW Hya disk while the model without scattering is also consistent within the errors of the absolute fluxes. To explain the intensity at Band 3, the dust surface density needs to be $sim$ 10 ${rm g,cm^{-2}}$ at 10 au in the model with scattering, which is 26 times more massive than previously predicted. The model without scattering needs 2.3 times higher dust mass than the model with scattering because it needs lower temperature. At Band 7, scattering reduces the intensity by $sim$ 35% which makes the disk looks optically thin even though it is optically thick. Our study suggests the TW Hya disk is still capable of forming cores of giant planets at where the current solar system planets exist.
We report the detection of spiral substructure in both the gas velocity and temperature structure of the disk around TW~Hya, suggestive of planet-disk interactions with an unseen planet. Perturbations from Keplerian rotation tracing out a spiral pattern are observed in the SE of the disk, while significant azimuthal perturbations in the gas temperature are seen in the outer disk, outside 90~au, extending the full azimuth of the disk. The deviation in velocity is either $Delta v_{phi} , / , v_{rm kep} sim 0.1$ or $Delta v_{z} , / , v_{rm kep} sim 0.01$ depending on whether the perturbation is in the rotational or vertical direction, while radial perturbations can be ruled out. Deviations in the gas temperature are $pm 4$ K about the azimuthally averaged profile, equivalent to deviations of $Delta T_{rm gas} , / , T_{rm gas} sim 0.05$. Assuming all three structures can be described by an Archimedean spiral, measurements of the pitch angles of both velocity and temperature spirals show a radially decreasing trend for all three, ranging from 9$^{circ}$ at 70 au, dropping to 3$^{circ}$ at 200 au. Such low pitch-angled spirals are not readily explained through the wake of an embedded planet in the location of previously reported at 94 au, but rather require a launching mechanism which results in much more tightly wound spirals. Molecular emission tracing distinct heights in the disk is required to accurately distinguish between spiral launching mechanisms.
We present a near-infrared direct imaging search for accretion signatures of possible protoplanets around the young stellar object (YSO) TW Hya, a multi-ring disk exhibiting evidence of planet formation. The Pa$beta$ line (1.282 $mu$m) is an indication of accretion onto a protoplanet, and its intensity is much higher than that of blackbody radiation from the protoplanet. We focused on the Pa$beta$ line and performed Keck/OSIRIS spectroscopic observations. Although spectral differential imaging (SDI) reduction detected no accretion signatures, the results of the present study allowed us to set 5$sigma$ detection limits for Pa$beta$ emission of $5.8times10^{-18}$ and $1.5times10^{-18}$ erg/s/cm$^2$ at 0farcs4 and 1farcs6, respectively. We considered the mass of potential planets using theoretical simulations of circumplanetary disks and hydrogen emission. The resulting masses were $1.45pm 0.04$ M$_{rm J}$ and $2.29 ^{+0.03}_{-0.04}$ M$_{rm J}$ at 25 and 95 AU, respectively, which agree with the detection limits obtained from previous broadband imaging. The detection limits should allow the identification of protoplanets as small as $sim$1 M$_{rm J}$, which may assist in direct imaging searches around faint YSOs for which extreme adaptive optics instruments are unavailable.
We analyze high angular resolution ALMA observations of the TW Hya disk to place constraints on the CO and dust properties. We present new, sensitive observations of the $^{12}$CO $J = 3-2$ line at a spatial resolution of 8 AU (0farcs14). The CO emission exhibits a bright inner core, a shoulder at $rapprox70$ AU, and a prominent break in slope at $rapprox90$ AU. Radiative transfer modeling is used to demonstrate that the emission morphology can be reasonably reproduced with a $^{12}$CO column density profile featuring a steep decrease at $rapprox15$ AU and a secondary bump peaking at $rapprox70$ AU. Similar features have been identified in observations of rarer CO isotopologues, which trace heights closer to the midplane. Substructure in the underlying gas distribution or radially varying CO depletion that affects much of the disks vertical extent may explain the shared emission features of the main CO isotopologues. We also combine archival 1.3 mm and 870 $mu$m continuum observations to produce a spectral index map at a spatial resolution of 2 AU. The spectral index rises sharply at the continuum emission gaps at radii of 25, 41, and 47 AU. This behavior suggests that the grains within the gaps are no larger than a few millimeters. Outside the continuum gaps, the low spectral index values of $alphaapprox 2$ indicate either that grains up to centimeter size are present, or that the bright continuum rings are marginally optically thick at millimeter wavelengths.
Connecting the composition of planet-forming disks with that of gas giant exoplanet atmospheres, in particular through C/O ratios, is one of the key goals of disk chemistry. Small hydrocarbons like $rm C_2H$ and $rm C_3H_2$ have been identified as tracers of C/O, as they form abundantly under high C/O conditions. We present resolved $rm C_3H_2$ observations from the TW Hya Rosetta Stone Project, a program designed to map the chemistry of common molecules at $15-20$ au resolution in the TW Hya disk. Augmented by archival data, these observations comprise the most extensive multi-line set for disks of both ortho and para spin isomers spanning a wide range of energies, $E_u=29-97$ K. We find the ortho-to-para ratio of $rm C_3H_2$ is consistent with 3 throughout extent of the emission, and the total abundance of both $rm C_3H_2$ isomers is $(7.5-10)times10^{-11}$ per H atom, or $1-10$% of the previously published $rm C_2H$ abundance in the same source. We find $rm C_3H_2$ comes from a layer near the surface that extends no deeper than $z/r=0.25$. Our observations are consistent with substantial radial variation in gas-phase C/O in TW Hya, with a sharp increase outside $sim30$ au. Even if we are not directly tracing the midplane, if planets accrete from the surface via, e.g., meridonial flows, then such a change should be imprinted on forming planets. Perhaps interestingly, the HR 8799 planetary system also shows an increasing gradient in its giant planets atmospheric C/O ratios. While these stars are quite different, hydrocarbon rings in disks are common, and therefore our results are consistent with the young planets of HR 8799 still bearing the imprint of their parent disks volatile chemistry.