Indications of Rapid Dust Formation in the Inner Region of a Protoplanetary Disk

Thanawuth Thanathibodee; Catherine Espaillat; Nuria Calvet; Zhaohuan Zhu; Julalak Nammanee; Caeley Pittman; Maire Volz

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arXiv · 2602.08973

Indications of Rapid Dust Formation in the Inner Region of a Protoplanetary Disk

Thanawuth Thanathibodee·Catherine Espaillat·Nuria Calvet·Zhaohuan Zhu·Julalak Nammanee·Caeley Pittman·Maire Volz

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Abstract

We report a significant increase in mid-infrared emission $\leq10$ $\mu$m in a transitional disk. The 2024 JWST/MIRI observation of the disk around CVSO 1942 reveals flux increase by a factor of two at $\lambda\leq10$ $\mu$m, compared to the near photospheric flux level observed with Spitzer/IRS in 2005. No significant change in flux at $\gtrsim15$ $\mu$m is detected in the spectra. Comparing the MIRI/MRS spectrum and NEOWISE photometry, we found that this $\leq10$ $\mu$m flux increase occurs on a timescale of 2 weeks and is consistent with the presence of warm (1,400 K), optically thick, large ($\gtrsim1$ $\mu$m) dust grains near the dust sublimation radius. We propose that this rapid dust appearance may indicate in situ dust formation, possibly from planetesimal collisions in the inner disk.

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Thanawuth Thanathibodee, Catherine Espaillat, Nuria Calvet, Zhaohuan Zhu, Julalak Nammanee, Caeley Pittman, Maire Volz. 2026-02-09. Indications of Rapid Dust Formation in the Inner Region of a Protoplanetary Disk. https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.08973

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