The mechanisms causing millimeter-wave polarization in protoplanetary disks are under debate. To disentangle the polarization mechanisms, we observe the protoplanetary disk around HL Tau at 3.1 mm ...with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), which had the polarization detected with CARMA at 1.3 mm. We successfully detect the ring-like azimuthal polarized emission at 3.1 mm. This indicates that dust grains are aligned with the major axis being in the azimuthal direction, which is consistent with the theory of radiative alignment of elongated dust grains, where the major axis of dust grains is perpendicular to the radiation flux. Furthermore, the morphology of the polarization vectors at 3.1 mm is completely different from those at 1.3 mm. We interpret the polarization at 3.1 mm to be dominated by the grain alignment with the radiative flux producing azimuthal polarization vectors, while the self-scattering dominates at 1.3 mm and produces the polarization vectors parallel to the minor axis of the disk. By modeling the total polarization fraction with a single grain population model, the maximum grain size is constrained to be , which is smaller than the previous predictions based on the spectral index between ALMA at 3 mm and the Very Large Array at 7 mm.
The origin of polarized emission from protoplanetary disks is uncertain. Three mechanisms have been proposed for this polarized emission: grain alignment with magnetic fields, grain alignment with ...radiation gradients, and self-scattering of thermal dust emission. Aiming to observationally identify the polarization mechanisms, we present ALMA polarization observations of the 0.87 mm dust continuum emission toward the circumstellar disk around HD 142527 with high spatial resolution. We confirm that the polarization vectors in the northern region are consistent with self-scattering. Furthermore, we show that the polarization vectors in the southern region are consistent with grain alignment by magnetic fields, although self-scattering cannot be ruled out. To understand the differences between the polarization mechanisms, we propose a simple grain size segregation model: small dust grains ( 100 m) are dominant and aligned with magnetic fields in the southern region, and middle-sized (∼100 m) grains in the upper layer emit self-scattered polarized emission in the northern region. The grain size near the middle plane in the northern region cannot be measured because the emission at 0.87 mm is optically thick. However, it can be speculated that larger dust grains ( cm) may accumulate near this plane. These results are consistent with those of a previous analysis of the disk, in which large grain accumulation and optically thick emission from the northern region were found. This model is also consistent with theories where smaller dust grains are aligned with magnetic fields. The magnetic fields are toroidal, at least in the southern region.
A giant planet creates a gap in a protoplanetary disk, which might explain the observed gaps in protoplanetary disks. The width and depth of the gaps depend on the planet mass and disk properties. We ...have performed two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations for various planet masses, disk aspect ratios, and viscosities, to obtain an empirical formula for the gap width. The gap width is proportional to the square root of the planet mass, −3/4 the power of the disk aspect ratio and −1/4 the power of the viscosity. This empirical formula enables us to estimate the mass of a planet embedded in the disk from the width of an observed gap. We have applied the empirical formula for the gap width to the disk around HL Tau, assuming that each gap observed by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations is produced by planets, and discussed the planet masses within the gaps. The estimate of planet masses from the gap widths is less affected by the observational resolution and dust filtration than that by the gap depth.
Abstract
We report an analysis of the dust disk around DM Tau, newly observed with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) at 1.3 mm. The ALMA observations with high sensitivity (8.4
...μ
Jy beam
–1
) and high angular resolution (35 mas, 5.1 au) detect two asymmetries on the ring at
r
∼ 20 au. They could be two vortices in early evolution, the destruction of a large-scale vortex, or double continuum emission peaks with different dust sizes. We also found millimeter emissions with ∼50
μ
Jy (a lower-limit dust mass of 0.3
M
Moon
) inside the 3 au ring. To characterize these emissions, we modeled the spectral energy distribution (SED) of DM Tau using a Monte Carlo radiative transfer code. We found that an additional ring at
r
= 1 au could explain both the DM Tau SED and the central point source. The disk midplane temperature at the 1 au ring calculated in our modeling is less than the typical water sublimation temperature of 150 K, prompting the possibility of forming small icy planets there.
ABSTRACT We present the polarization observations toward the circumstellar disk around HD 142527 by using Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array at the frequency of 343 GHz. The beam size is 0 ...51 × 0 44, which corresponds to the spatial resolution of ∼71 × 62 au. The polarized intensity displays a ring-like structure with a peak located on the east side with a polarization fraction of P = 3.26 0.02%, which is different from the peak of the continuum emission from the northeast region. The polarized intensity is significantly weaker at the peak of the continuum where P = 0.220 0.010%. The polarization vectors are in the radial direction in the main ring of the polarized intensity, while there are two regions outside at the northwest and northeast areas where the vectors are in the azimuthal direction. If the polarization vectors represent the magnetic field morphology, the polarization vectors indicate the toroidal magnetic field configuration on the main ring and the poloidal fields outside. On the other hand, the flip of the polarization vectors is predicted by the self-scattering of thermal dust emission due to the change of the direction of thermal radiation flux. Therefore, we conclude that self-scattering of thermal dust emission plays a major role in producing polarization at millimeter wavelengths in this protoplanetary disk. Also, this puts a constraint on the maximum grain size to be approximately 150 m if we assume compact spherical dust grains.
We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of the dust continuum emission at 1.3 mm and 12CO line emission of the transitional disk around DM Tau. DM Tau's disk is ...thought to possess a dust-free inner cavity inside a few au, from the absence of near-infrared excess on its spectral energy distribution (SED). Previous submillimeter observations were, however, unable to detect the cavity; instead, a dust ring ∼20 au in radius was seen. The excellent angular resolution achieved in the new ALMA observations, 43 × 31 mas, allows discovery of a 4 au radius inner dust ring, confirming previous SED modeling results. This inner ring is symmetric in continuum emission, but asymmetric in 12CO emission. The known (outer) dust ring at ∼20 au is recovered and shows azimuthal asymmetry with a strong-weak side contrast of ∼1.3. The gap between these two rings is depleted by a factor of ∼40 in dust emission relative to the outer ring. An extended outer dust disk is revealed, separated from the outer ring by another gap. The location of the inner ring is comparable to that of the main asteroid belt in the solar system. As a disk with a "proto-asteroid belt," the DM Tau system offers valuable clues to disk evolution and planet formation in the terrestrial-planet-forming region.
Abstract
The gas surface density profile of protoplanetary disks is one of the most fundamental physical properties to understanding planet formation. However, it is challenging to determine the ...surface density profile observationally, because the H
2
emission cannot be observed in low-temperature regions. We analyzed the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) archival data of the
12
CO
J
= 3 − 2 line toward the protoplanetary disk around TW Hya and discovered extremely broad line wings due to the pressure broadening. In conjunction with a previously reported optically thin CO isotopologue line, the pressure broadened line wings enabled us to directly determine the midplane gas density for the first time. The gas surface density at ∼5 au from the central star reaches ∼10
3
g cm
−2
, which suggests that the inner region of the disk has enough mass to form a Jupiter-mass planet. Additionally, the gas surface density drops at the inner cavity by ∼2 orders of magnitude compared to outside the cavity. We also found a low CO abundance of ∼10
−6
with respect to H
2
, even inside the CO snow line, which suggests conversion of CO to less volatile species. Combining our results with previous studies, the gas surface density jumps at
r
∼ 20 au, suggesting that the inner region (3 <
r
< 20 au) might be the magnetorotational instability dead zone. This study sheds light on the direct gas surface density constraint without assuming the CO/H
2
ratio using ALMA.
In this paper, we analyze the upper limit fluxes of submillimeter ortho-H216O 321 GHz, para-H218O 322 GHz, and HDO 335 GHz lines from the protoplanetary disk around the Herbig Ae star HD 163296, ...using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array. These water lines are considered to be the best candidate submillimeter lines to locate the position of the H2O snowline, on the basis of our previous model calculations. We compare the upper limit fluxes with the values calculated by our models with dust emission included, and we constrain the line-emitting region and the dust opacity from the observations. We conclude that, if the outer edge of the region with a high water abundance and the position of the water snowline are both beyond 8 au, then themillimeter dust opacity κmm will have a value larger than 2.0 cm2 g−1. In addition, the position of the water snowline must lie inside 20 au if the millimeter dust opacity κmm is 2.0 cm2 g−1. Future observations of the dust continuum emission at higher angular resolution and submillimeter water lines with a longer observation time are required to clarify the detailed structures and the position of the H2O snowline in the disk midplane.
We present a spatially resolved map of integrated-intensity and abundance of Neptune's stratospheric hydrogen cyanide (HCN). The analyzed data were obtained from the archived 2016 observation of the ...Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. A 0 42 × 0 39 synthesized beam, which is equivalent to a latitudinal resolution of ∼20° at the disk center, was fine enough to resolve Neptune's 2 24 diameter disk. After correcting the effect of different optical path lengths, a spatial distribution of HCN emissions is derived over Neptune's disk, and it clearly shows a band-like HCN enhancement at the equator. Radiative transfer analysis indicates that the HCN volume mixing ratio measured at the equator was 1.92 ppb above the 10−3 bar pressure level, which is 40% higher than that measured at the southern middle and high latitudes. The spatial distribution of HCN can be interpreted as either the effect of the transportation of N2 from the troposphere by meridional atmospheric circulation, or an external supply such as cometary collisions (or both of these reasons). From the meridional circulation point of view, the observed HCN enhancement on both the equator and the pole can be explained by the production and accumulation of HCN at the downward branches of the previously suggested two-cell meridional circulation models. However, the HCN-depleted latitude of 60° S does not match with the location of the upward branch of the two-cell circulation models.
Analyzing multiband observations of dust continuum emission is one of the useful tools to constrain dust properties that help us to understand the physical properties of the protoplanetary disks. We ...perform a synthetic ALMA multiband analysis to find the best ALMA band set for constraining the dust properties of the TW Hya disk. We find that the Band 10, 6, 3 set is the best set among the possible combinations of ALMA Bands 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. We also find two conditions for the good ALMA band sets providing narrow constraint ranges on dust properties: (1) Band 9 or 10 is included in the band set, and (2) there are enough frequency intervals between the bands. These are related to the conditions that give good constraints on dust properties: the combination of optically thick and thin bands is required, and large β (β is the power-law index of dust opacity, κ ∝ β) and low dust temperature are preferable. To examine our synthetic analysis results, we apply the multiband analysis to ALMA archival data of the TW Hya disk at Bands 4, 6, 7, and 9. The Band 9, 6, 4 set provides the dust properties close to the model profile, while the Band 7, 6, 4 set gives the dust properties deviating from the model at all radii with too broad a constraint range to specify the accurate values of dust temperature, optical depth, and β. Since these features are expected by the synthetic multiband analysis, we confirm that the synthetic multiband analysis is consistent with the results derived from real data.
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