Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2011-06-26
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
12 pages, 9 figures, ApJ accepted
Scientific paper
We consider the effects of self-gravity on the hydrostatic balance in the vertical direction of a gaseous disk and discuss the possible signature of the self-gravity that may be captured by the direct imaging observations of protoplanetary disks in future. In this paper, we consider a vertically isothermal disk in order to isolate the effects of self-gravity. The specific disk model we consider in this paper is the one with a radial surface density gap, at which the Toomre's $Q$-parameter of the disk varies rapidly in the radial direction. We calculate the vertical structure of the disk including the effects of self-gravity. We then calculate the scattered light and the dust thermal emission. We find that if the disk is massive enough and the effects of self-gravity come into play, a weak bump-like structure at the gap edge appears in the near-infrared (NIR) scattered light, while no such bump-like structure is seen in the sub-mm dust continuum image. The appearance of the bump is caused by the variation of the height of the surface in the NIR wavelength. If such bump-like feature is detected in future direct imaging observations, with the combination of sub-mm observations, it will bring us useful information about the physical states of the disk.
No associations
LandOfFree
The Structure of a Self-Gravitating Protoplanetary Disk and its Implications to Direct Imaging Observations does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with The Structure of a Self-Gravitating Protoplanetary Disk and its Implications to Direct Imaging Observations, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Structure of a Self-Gravitating Protoplanetary Disk and its Implications to Direct Imaging Observations will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-585994