Imaged Gaps in Protoplanetary Disks as Probes of Growing Planets

Details Imaged Gaps in Protoplanetary Disks as Probes of Growing Planets Imaged Gaps in Protoplanetary Disks as Probes of Growing Planets

Jan 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011aas...21713105j&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #217, #131.05; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 43, 2011

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

As planets grow in size, they begin to dynamically clear out gaps in disks. Planets above about 30 Earth masses (0.1 Jupiter masses) can clear about half the material along their orbital paths, but until they grow in size to at least a Jupiter mass (300 Earth masses), these gaps do not significantly affect the spectral energy distribution. However, these gaps are potentially observable in spatially resolved imaging both in scattered light and in thermal continuum emission. Optical to near-infrared images trace out scattered light from the structure of the surface of the gap. Infrared to radio wavelengths trace radiative cooling and heating due shadowing of stellar illumination on the gap. I present observations of gaps in spatially resolved images of protoplanetary disks and compare them to analytical models to constrain the masses of planets that might be creating the gaps. If these gaps are indeed indicative of planet formation, the ages of the disks and locations of the gaps give a direct probe of the planet formation process. As we better understand where and when planets form, the better we can understand the distribution of exoplanet masses and orbital properties. This work was supported by the Michelson Fellowship Program, under contract with JPL and funded by NASA; JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology.

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