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Context. Previous high-angular-resolution 225 GHz (~1.3 mm) continuum observations of the transitional disk DM Tau have resolved an outer ring at 20–120 au radii that is weakly azimuthally asymmetric. Aims. We aim to examine dust growth and filtration in the outer ring of DM Tau. Methods. We performed ~0″.06 (~8.7 au) resolution Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA) 40–48 GHz (~7 mm; Q band) continuum observations, along with complementary observations at lower frequencies. In addition, we analyzed the archival JVLA observations undertaken since 2010. Results. Intriguingly, the Q band image resolved the azimuthally highly asymmetric, knotty dust emission sources close to the inner edge of the outer ring. Fitting the 8–700 GHz spectral energy distribution (SED) with two dust components indicates that the maximum grain size (amax) in these knotty dust emission sources is likely ≳300 µm, whereas it is ≳50 µm in the rest of the ring. These results may be explained by a trapping of inwardly migrating "grown" dust close to the ring inner edge. The exact mechanism for developing the azimuthal asymmetry has not yet been identified, which may be due to planet-disk interaction that might also be responsible for the creation of the dust cavity and pressure bump. Otherwise, it may be due to the fluid instabilities and vortex formation as a result of shear motions. Finally, we remark that the asymmetries in DM Tau are difficult to diagnose from the ≳225 GHz observations, owing to a high optical depth at the ring. In other words, the apparent symmetric or asymmetric morphology of the transitional disks may be related to the optical depths of those disks at the observing frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a physically motivated model for the manner in which a stellar magnetic field sculpts the inner edge of a protoplanetary disc, and examines the consequence for the migration and stopping of sub-Neptune and super-Earth planets. This model incorporates a transition zone exterior to the inner truncation of the disc, where the surface density profile is modified by the diffusion of the stellar magnetic field into the disc. This modification results in a migration trap at the outer edge of the transition zone. We performed simulations of single-planet migration, considering a range of stellar magnetic field strengths and magnetic diffusion profiles. Our simulations show a tight relationship between the final locations of planets and the total magnetic budget available for the disc from their host star. We found that a stellar magnetic field between 67 and 180 G and a power-law index between 3 and 2.75 can reasonably reproduce the location at which the observed occurrence rate of close-in super-Earth and sub-Neptune populations changes slope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crescent-like asymmetric dust structures discovered in protoplanetary disks indicate dust aggregations. Thus, researching these structures helps us understand the planet formation process. Here we analyze ALMA data of the protoplanetary disk around the T-Tauri star SR 21, which has asymmetric structures that were detected in previous submillimeter observations. Imaged at ALMA Band 6 (1.3 mm) with a spatial resolution of about 0.″04, the disk is found to consist of two rings and three asymmetric structures, with two of the asymmetric structures being in the same ring. Compared to the Band 6 image, the Band 3 (2.7 mm) image also shows the three asymmetric structures, but with some clumps. The elongated asymmetric structures in the outer ring could be due to the interactions of a growing planet. Based on fitting the Band 3 and Band 6 dust continuum data, two branches of solutions for the maximum dust size in the disk are suggested: one is larger than 1 mm, and the other is smaller than 300 μ m. High-resolution continuum observations at longer wavelengths as well as polarization observations can help break the degeneracy. We also suggest that the prominent spiral previously identified in VLT/SPHERE observations south of the star at 0.″25 may be the scattered-light counterpart of the inner arc, and the structure is a dust-trapping vortex in nature. The discovered features in SR 21 make it a good target for studying the evolution of asymmetric structures and planet formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we reported the results of high-resolution (⁠|${0{^{\prime \prime}_{.}}14}$|⁠) Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of the 225 GHz dust continuum and CO molecular emission lines from the transitional disk around SY Cha. Our high-resolution observations clearly revealed the inner cavity and the central point source for the first time. The radial profile of the ring can be approximated by a bright narrow ring superimposed on a fainter wide ring. Furthermore, we found that there is a weak azimuthal asymmetry in dust continuum emission. For gas emissions, we detected 12CO(2–1), 13CO(2–1), and C18O(2–1), from which we estimated the total gas mass of the disk to be 2.2 × 10−4  M  ⊙ , assuming a CO/H2 ratio of 10−4. The observations showed that the gas is present inside the dust cavity. The analysis of the velocity structure of the 12CO(2–1) emission line revealed that the velocity is distorted at the location of the dust inner disk, which may be owing to a warping of the disk or radial gas flow within the cavity of the dust disk. High-resolution observations of SY Cha showed that this system is composed of a ring and a distorted inner disk, which may be common, as indicated by the survey of transitional disk systems at a resolution of |${\sim}{0{^{\prime \prime}_{.}}1}$|⁠. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of a protoplanetary disk around the T Tauri star Sz 84 and analyses of the structures of the inner cavity in the central region of the dust disk. Sz 84's spectral energy distribution (SED) has been known to exhibit negligible infrared excess at λ ≲ 10 μm due to the disk's cavity structure. Analyses of the observed visibilities of dust continuum at 1.3 mm and the SED indicate that the size of the cavity in the disk of large (millimeter size) dust grains is 8 au in radius and that in the disk of small (submicron size) dust grains is 60 au in radius. Furthermore, from the SED analyses, we estimate that the upper limit mass of small dust grains at r < 60 au is less than ∼10−3 M⊕, which is ≲0.01% of the total (small + large) dust mass at r < 60 au. These results suggest that large dust grains are dominant at r < 60 au, implying that dust grains efficiently grow with less efficient fragmentation in this region, potentially due to weak turbulence and/or stickier dust grains. The balance of grain growth and dust fragmentation is an important factor for determining the size of large dust grains in protoplanetary disks, and thus Sz 84 could serve as a good testbed for investigations of grain growth in such disks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims. The origin of close-in Jovian planets is still elusive. We examine the in-situ gas accretion scenario as a formation mechanism of these planets. Methods. We reconstruct natal disk properties from the occurrence rate distribution of close-in giant planets, under the assumption that the occurrence rate may reflect the gas accretion efficiency onto cores of these planets. Results. We find that the resulting gas surface density profile becomes an increasing function of the distance from the central star with some structure at r ≃ 0.1 au. This profile is quite different from the standard minimum-mass solar nebula model, while our profile leads to better reproduction of the population of observed close-in super-Earths based on previous studies. We compute the resulting magnetic field profiles and find that our profiles can be fitted by stellar dipole fields (∝r−3) in the vicinity of the central star and large-scale fields (∝r−2) at the inner disk regions, either if the isothermal assumption breaks down or if nonideal magnetohydrodynamic effects become important. For both cases, the transition between these two profiles occurs at r ≃ 0.1 au, which corresponds to the period valley of giant exoplanets. Conclusions. Our work provides an opportunity to test the in-situ gas accretion scenario against disk quantities, which may constrain the gas distribution of the minimum-mass extrasolar nebula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photoevaporation due to high-energy stellar photons is thought to be one of the main drivers of protoplanetary disk dispersal. The fully or partially ionized disk surface is expected to produce free-free continuum emission at centimeter (cm) wavelengths that can be routinely detected with interferometers such as the upgraded Very Large Array (VLA).We use deep (rms noise down to 8 μJy beam-1 in the field of view center) 3.5 cm maps of the nearby (130 pc) Corona Australis (CrA) star formation (SF) region to constrain disk photoevaporation models. We find that the radio emission from disk sources in CrA is surprisingly faint. Only three out of ten sources within the field of view are detected, with flux densities of about 102 μJy. However, a significant fraction of their emission is nonthermal. Typical upper limits for nondetections are 3σ ∼ 60 μJy beam-1. Assuming analytic expressions for the free-free emission from extreme-UV (EUV) irradiation, we derive stringent upper limits to the ionizing photon luminosity that impinges on the disk surface ΦEUV < 1-4 × 1041 s-1. These limits constrain ΦEUV to the low end of the values needed by EUV-driven photoevaporation models to clear protoplanetary disks within the observed few Myr timescale. Therefore, at least in CrA, EUV-driven photoevaporation is unlikely to be the main agent of disk dispersal.We also compare the observed X-ray luminosities LX of disk sources with models in which photoevaporation is driven by such photons. Although predictions are less specific than for the EUV case, most of the observed fluxes (upper limits) are roughly consistent with the (scaled) predictions. Deeper observations, as well as predictions spanning a wider parameter space, are needed to properly test X-ray driven photoevaporation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid growth of observed exoplanets has revealed the existence of several distinct planetary populations in the mass-period diagram. Two of the most surprising are (1) the concentration of gas giants around 1 AU and (2) the accumulation of a large number of low-mass planets with tight orbits, also known as super-Earths and hot Neptunes. We have recently shown that protoplanetary disks have multiple planet traps that are characterized by orbital radii in the disks and halt rapid type I planetary migration. By coupling planet traps with the standard core accretion scenario, we showed that one can account for the positions of planets in the mass-period diagram. In this paper, we demonstrate quantitatively that most gas giants formed at planet traps tend to end up around 1 AU, with most of these being contributed by dead zones and ice lines. We also show that a large fraction of super-Earths and hot Neptunes are formed as “failed” cores of gas giants—this population being constituted by comparable contributions from dead zone and heat transition traps. Our results are based on the evolution of forming planets in an ensemble of disks where we vary only the lifetimes of disks and their mass accretion rates onto the host star. We show that a statistical treatment of the evolution of a large population of planetary cores caught in planet traps accounts for the existence of three distinct exoplanetary populations—the hot Jupiters, the more massive planets around r = 1 AU, and the short-period super-Earths and hot Neptunes. There are very few populations that feed into the large orbital radii characteristic of the imaged Jovian planet, which agrees with recent surveys. Finally, we find that low-mass planets in tight orbits become the dominant planetary population for low-mass stars (M* ⩽ 0.7 M☼). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The structure of planetary systems around their host stars depends on their initial formation conditions. Massive planets will likely be formed as a consequence of rapid migration of planetesimals and low-mass cores into specific trapping sites in protoplanetary discs. We present analytical modelling of inhomogeneities in protoplanetary discs around a variety of young stars - from Herbig Ae/Be to classical T Tauri and down to M stars - and show how they give rise to planet traps. The positions of these traps define the initial orbital distribution of multiple protoplanets. We investigate both corotation and Lindblad torques, and show that a new trap arises from the (entropy-related) corotation torque. This arises at that disc radius where disc heating changes from viscous to stellar irradiation dominated processes. We demonstrate that up to three traps (heat transitions, ice lines and dead zones) can exist in a single disc, and that they move differently as the disc accretion rate decreases with time. The interaction between the giant planets which grow in such traps may be a crucial ingredient for establishing planetary systems. We also demonstrate that the position of planet traps strongly depends on stellar masses and disc accretion rates. This indicates that host stars establish preferred scales of their planetary systems. We discuss the potential of planet traps induced by ice lines of various molecules such as water and CO, and estimate the maximum and minimum mass of planets which undergo type I migration. We finally apply our analyses to accounting for the initial conditions proposed in the Nice model for the origin of our Solar system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a new method of analysis for determining the surface geometry of five protoplanetary disks observed with near-infrared imaging polarimetry using Subaru-HiCIAO. Using as inputs the observed distribution of polarized intensity (PI), disk inclination, assumed properties for dust scattering, and other reasonable approximations, we calculate a differential equation to derive the surface geometry. This equation is numerically integrated along the distance from the star at a given position angle. We show that, using these approximations, the local maxima in the PI distribution of spiral arms (SAO 206462, MWC 758) and rings (2MASS J16042165-2130284, PDS 70) are associated with local concave-up structures on the disk surface. We also show that the observed presence of an inner gap in scattered light still allows the possibility of a disk surface that is parallel to the light path from the star, or a disk that is shadowed by structures in the inner radii. Our analysis for rings does not show the presence of a vertical inner wall as often assumed in studies of disks with an inner gap. Finally, we summarize the implications of spiral and ring structures as potential signatures of ongoing planet formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ubiquity of planets poses an interesting question: when are first planets formed in galaxies? We investigate this by adopting a theoretical model where planet traps are combined with the standard core accretion scenario in which the efficiency of forming planetary cores directly relates to the metallicity ([Fe/H]) in disks. Three characteristic exoplanetary populations are examined: hot Jupiters, exo-Jupiters around 1 AU, and low-mass planets in tight orbits, such as super-Earths. We statistically compute planet formation frequencies (PFFs), as well as the orbital radius () within which gas accretion becomes efficient enough to form Jovian planets, as a function of metallicity (–2 ⩽ [Fe/H] ⩽–0.6). We show that the total PFFs for these three populations increase steadily with metallicity. This is the direct outcome of the core accretion picture. For the metallicity range considered here, the population of low-mass planets dominates Jovian planets. The Jovian planets contribute to the PFFs above [Fe/H] ≃ –1. We find that the hot Jupiters form more efficiently than the exo-Jupiters at [Fe/H] ≲ –0.7. This arises from the slower growth of planetary cores and their more efficient radial inward transport by the host traps in lower metallicity disks. We show that the critical metallicity for forming Jovian planets is [Fe/H] ≃ –1.2 by comparing of hot Jupiters and low-mass planets. The comparison intrinsically links to the different gas accretion efficiency between these two types of planets. Therefore, this study implies that important physical processes in planet formation may be tested by exoplanet observations around metal-poor stars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The large number of observed exoplanets (≳700) provides important constraints on their origin as deduced from the mass-period diagram of planets. The most surprising features in the diagram are (1) the (apparent) pileup of gas giants at a period of ∼500 days (∼1 AU) and (2) the so-called mass-period relation, which indicates that planetary mass is an increasing function of orbital period. We construct the evolutionary tracks of growing planets at planet traps in evolving protoplanetary disks and show that they provide a good physical understanding of how these observational properties arise. The fundamental feature of our model is that inhomogeneities in protoplanetary disks give rise to multiple (up to 3) trapping sites for rapid (type I) planetary migration of planetary cores. The viscous evolution of disks results in the slow radial movement of the traps and their cores from large to small orbital periods. In our model, the slow inward motion of planet traps is coupled with the standard core accretion scenario for planetary growth. As planets grow, type II migration takes over. Planet growth and radial movement are ultimately stalled by the dispersal of gas disks via photoevaporation. Our model makes a number of important predictions: that distinct sub-populations of planets that reflect the properties of planet traps where they have grown result in the mass-period relation, that the presence of these sub-populations naturally explains a pileup of planets at ∼1 AU, and that evolutionary tracks from the ice line do put planets at short periods and fill an earlier claimed “planet desert”—a sparse population of planets in the mass-semimajor axis diagram. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]