arXiv subjects

Cornelis P. Dullemond

Publications and source records attributed to Cornelis P. Dullemond.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Formation of multiple dust rings and gaps in protoplanetary discs by a single migrating planet. A parameter study in locally isothermal discs

ALMA observations show that large protoplanetary discs usually contain multiple concentric dust rings separated by dark gaps. A natural explanation is dust-trapping at the edges of gaps opened by newly formed planets. However, planets typically migrate inward on timescales shorter than disc lifetimes, seemingly at odds with rings at large radii. We aim to investigate the conditions under which migrating planets can form long-lived, multi-ringed structures out to $r\sim 150$ au to constrain the parameter space for the planetary origin hypothesis of rings. Using the FargoCPT hydrodynamics code, we ran two-dimensional, locally isothermal disc models with a single migrating planet, varying disc aspect ratio, viscosity ($α$), and planetary mass. In all models, the planet eventually stalls in a deep gap. At $α\leq 10^{-4}$, secondary spirals launched by the planet can open additional gaps at smaller radii. When planets exceed twice the local thermal mass before stalling, they enter a regime of alternating slow and type-III rapid migration, leaving partial gaps outside their orbit. The gap edges consistently feature pressure maxima that trap dust. These begin as large vortices at $α\leq 10^{-4}$, but gradually smear out into rings before dissipating. The type-III remnant rings dissipate quickly at $α=10^{-3}$, but persist for at least 300-500 kyr at $α\leq 10^{-4}$. Both smear-out and dissipation timescales increase with lower $α$. Our results show that migrating planets can reproduce observed multi-ringed structures in discs with $α\lesssim 10^{-4}$ through their stall ($r\lesssim 50$ au), secondary gap-opening ($r\lesssim 20$ au), and type-III migration remnants (extending to $r\sim 150$ au for Jupiter-mass planets in sufficiently massive discs). Longer simulations will be required to compare the statistics of ring-to-vortex occurrence to observations.

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arXiv2026

Formation of multiple dust rings and gaps in protoplanetary discs by a single migrating planet II: radiative discs and observational signatures

Dust structures in protoplanetary discs have been widely observed and their creation remains an active field of research. Several possible origins have already been explored, including magneto-hydrodynamics, shadows and planets-disc interactions. The goal of this paper is to investigate whether a single migrating planet in a low-viscosity disc, including radiative processes, is capable of generating observable dust structures. We aim to examine both the lifetime of such structures and potential asymmetries within them. We perform a set of high-resolution, two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of migrating planets using three different equations of state: isothermal, constant $β$-cooling and an adaptive $β$ model. Dust is included in all simulations and the resulting dust density profiles are then post-processed to create radiative transfer images. For all equations of state considered, the planet undergoes one or several migration jumps, each producing dust rings and gaps. The lifetime of these structures depends on the phase of slow migration preceding and occurring between jumps, but in all cases they remain visible for at least 400 kyr. We find that cooling has a deciding effect on the migration behaviour and the number of jumps, but no measurable influence on the lifetime of the dust structures. The structures exhibit relatively few asymmetries, and large-scale vortices persist for an average of only 90 kyr. Our models highlight the capacity of planets to open multiple gaps while migrating, and stress the importance of a realistic cooling model. Care should be taken when interpreting and comparing such models directly to observations.

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arXiv2025

Differentiation, the exception not the rule -- Evidence for full miscibility in sub-Neptune interiors

We investigate the consequences of non-ideal mixing between silicate, iron metal, and hydrogen for the structures of the cores of sub-Neptunes with implications for super-Earths, warm Neptunes, and ice giants. A method of extrapolating what we know about the miscibility in the three bounding binary systems MgSiO$_3$-H$_2$, MgSiO$_3$-Fe, and Fe-H$_2$ to the ternary composition space is used to deduce the phase equilibria of this system at relevant temperature and pressure conditions. We find that while separate silicate and metal phases can exist at shallow depths, the phases become entirely miscible deeper in the cores, thus altering the density structure of the cores. The assumption that the interiors of large rocky planets, either with extant magma oceans beneath H$_2$-rich envelopes, or evolved from such bodies, are composed of a differentiated metal core overlain by a silicate mantle is inconsistent with our understanding of the phase equilibria of these bodies.

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arXiv2025

Puffed-up Inner Rings and Razor-thin Outer Rings in Structured Protoplanetary Disks

The vertical distribution of pebbles in protoplanetary disks is a fundamental property influencing planet formation, from dust aggregation to the assembly of planetary cores. In the outer region of protoplanetary disks, the intensity of the optically thin but geometrically thick dust ring decreases along the minor axis due to reduced line-of-sight optical depth. Multi-ring disks thus provide an excellent opportunity to study the radial variation of the vertical properties of dust. We investigate the vertical dust distribution in 6 protoplanetary disks with resolved double rings, using high-resolution ALMA Band 6 continuum observations. By modeling the azimuthal intensity variations in these rings, we constrain the dust scale heights for each ring. Our results reveal a dichotomy: inner rings exhibit puffed-up dust layers with heights comparable to the gas scale height, while outer rings are significantly more settled, with dust scale heights less than 20\% of the gas scale height. This suggests a radial dependence in dust settling efficiency within the disks, potentially driven by localized planetary interactions or the global radial dependence of the Vertical Shear Instability (VSI). We discuss the implications of these findings for dust trapping, planet formation, and protoplanetary disk evolution. Our work highlights the importance of vertical dust distribution in understanding the early stages of planet formation and suggests that outer ($>80$~au), settled rings are preferred sites for planet formation over inner ($<80$~au), turbulent rings.

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arXiv2025

Spirals, rings, and vortices shaped by shadows in protoplanetary disks: from radiative hydrodynamical simulations to observable signatures

Numerous protoplanetary disks exhibit shadows in scattered light observations. These shadows are typically cast by misaligned inner disks and are associated with observable structures in the outer disk such as bright arcs and spirals. Investigating the dynamics of the shadowed outer disk is therefore essential in understanding the formation and evolution of these structures. We carry out twodimensional radiation hydrodynamics simulations that include radiative diffusion and dust-gas dynamics to study the formation of substructure in shadowed disks. We find that spiral arms are launched at the edge of each shadow, permeating the entire disk. The local dissipation of these spirals results in an angular momentum flux, opening multiple gaps and leading to a series of concentric, regularly-spaced rings We find that ring formation is favored in weakly turbulent disks where dust growth is taking place. These conditions are met for typical class-II disks, in which bright rings should form well within a fraction of their lifetime (0.1-0.2 Myr). For hotter disks gap opening is more efficient, such that the gap edges quickly collapse into vortices that can appear as bright arcs in continuum emission before decaying into rings or merging into massive, long-lived structures. Synthetic observations show that these structures should be observable in scattered light and millimeter continuum emission, providing a new way to probe the presence of substructure in protoplanetary disks. Our results suggest that the formation of rings and gaps is a common process in shadowed disks, and can explain the rich radial substructure observed in several protoplanetary disks.

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arXiv2024

Dusty substructures induced by planets in ALMA disks: how dust growth and dynamics changes the picture

Protoplanetary disks exhibit a rich variety of substructure in millimeter continuum emission, often attributed to unseen planets. As these planets carve gaps in the gas, dust particles can accumulate in the resulting pressure bumps, forming bright features in the dust continuum. We investigate the role of dust dynamics in the gap-opening process with 2D radiation hydrodynamics simulations of planet--disk interaction and a two-population dust component modeled as a pressureless fluid. We consider the opacity feedback and backreaction due to drag forces as mm grains accumulate in pressure bumps at different stages of dust growth. We find that dust dynamics can significantly affect the resulting substructure driven by the quasi-thermal-mass planet with $M_p/M_\star=10^{-4}$. Opacity feedback causes nonaxisymmetric features to become more compact in azimuth, whereas the drag-induced backreaction tends to dissolve nonaxisymmetries. For our fiducial model, this results in multiple concentric rings of dust rather than the expected vortices and corotating dust clumps found in models without dust feedback. A higher coagulation fraction disproportionately enhances the effect of dust opacity feedback, favoring the formation of crescents rather than rings. Our results suggest that turbulent diffusion is not always necessary to explain the rarity of observed nonaxisymmetric features, and that incorporating dust dynamics is vital for interpreting the observed substructure in protoplanetary disks. We also describe and test the implementation of the publicly-available dust fluid module in the PLUTO code.

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arXiv2024

Kinetic Field Theory Applied to Planetesimal Formation I: Freely Streaming Dust Particles

Planet formation in the solar system was started when the first planetesimals were formed from the gravitational collapse of pebble clouds. Numerical simulations of this process, especially in the framework of streaming instability, produce various power laws for the initial mass function for planetesimals. While recent advances have shed light on turbulence and its role in particle clustering, a comprehensive theoretical framework linking turbulence characteristics to particle cluster properties and planetesimal mass function remains incomplete. Recently, a kinetic field theory for ensembles of point-like classical particles in or out of equilibrium has been applied to cosmic structure formation. This theory encodes the dynamics of a classical particle ensemble by a generating functional specified by the initial probability distribution of particles in phase space and their equations of motion. Here, we apply kinetic field theory to planetesimal formation. A model for the initial probability distribution of dust particles in phase space is obtained from a quasi-initial state for a three-dimensional streaming-instability simulation that is a particle distribution with velocities for gas and particles from the Nakagawa relations. The equations of motion are chosen for the simplest case of freely streaming particles. We calculate the non-linearly evolved density power spectrum of dust particles and find that it develops a universal $k^{-3}$ tail at small scales, suggesting scale-invariant structure formation below a characteristic and time-dependent length scale. Thus, the KFT analysis indicates that the initial state for streaming instability simulations does not impose a constraint on structure evolution during planetesimal formation.

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arXiv2024

FargoCPT: A 2D Multi-Physics Code for Simulating the Interaction of Disks with Stars, Planets and Particles

Context: Planet-disk interactions play a crucial role in the understanding of planet formation and disk evolution. There are multiple numerical tools available to simulate these interactions, including the often-used FARGO code and its variants. Many of the codes were extended over time to include additional physical processes with a focus on their accurate modeling. Aims: We introduce FargoCPT, an updated version of FARGO incorporating other previous enhancements to the code, to provide a simulation environment tailored to study interactions between stars, planets, and disks, ensuring accurate representation of planet systems, hydrodynamics, and dust dynamics with a focus on usability. Methods: The radiation-hydrodynamics part of FargoCPT uses a second-order upwind scheme in 2D polar coordinates supporting multiple equations of state, radiation transport, heating and cooling, and self-gravity. Shocks are considered using artificial viscosity. Integration of the N-body system is achieved by leveraging the REBOUND code. The dust module utilizes massless tracer particles, adapting to drag laws for the Stokes and Epstein regimes. Moreover, FargoCPT provides mechanisms to simulate accretion onto the stars and planets. Results: The code has been tested in practice by its use in various publications. Additionally, it comes with an automated test suite to test the physics modules. Conclusions: FargoCPT offers a unique set of simulation capabilities within the current landscape of publicly available planet-disk interaction simulation tools. Its structured interface and underlying technical updates are intended to assist researchers in the ongoing exploration of planet formation.

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arXiv2023

Planetesimal formation during protoplanetary disk buildup

Models of dust coagulation and subsequent planetesimal formation are usually computed on the backdrop of an already fully formed protoplanetary disk model. At the same time, observational studies suggest that planetesimal formation should start early, possibly even before the protoplanetary disk is fully formed. In this paper, we investigate under which conditions planetesimals already form during the disk buildup stage, in which gas and dust fall onto the disk from its parent molecular cloud. We couple our earlier planetesimal formation model at the water snow line to a simple model of disk formation and evolution. We find that under most conditions planetesimals only form after the buildup stage when the disk becomes less massive and less hot. However, there are parameters for which planetesimals already form during the disk buildup. This occurs when the viscosity driving the disk evolution is intermediate ($α_v \sim 10^{-3}-10^{-2}$) while the turbulent mixing of the dust is reduced compared to that ($α_t \le 0.03 \cdot α_v$), and with the assumption that water vapor is vertically well-mixed with the gas. Such $α_t \ll α_v$ scenario could be expected for layered accretion, where the gas flow is mostly driven by the active surface layers, while the midplane layers, where most of the dust resides, are quiescent.

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arXiv2022

Rapid Formation of Massive Planetary Cores in a Pressure Bump

Models of planetary core growth by either planetesimal or pebble accretion are traditionally disconnected from the models of dust evolution and formation of the first gravitationally-bound planetesimals. The state-of-the-art models typically start with massive planetary cores already present. We aim to study the formation and growth of planetary cores in a pressure bump, motivated by the annular structures observed in protoplanetary disks, starting with sub-micron-sized dust grains. We connect the models of dust coagulation and drift, planetesimal formation in the streaming instability, gravitational interactions between planetesimals, pebble accretion, and planet migration, into one uniform framework. We find that planetesimals forming early at the massive end of the size distribution grow quickly dominantly by pebble accretion. These few massive bodies grow on the timescales of ~100 000 years and stir the planetesimals formed later preventing the emergence of further planetary cores. Additionally, a migration trap occurs allowing for retention of the growing cores. Pressure bumps are favourable locations for the emergence and rapid growth of planetary cores by pebble accretion as the dust density and grain size are increased and the pebble accretion onset mass is reduced compared to a smooth-disk model.

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arXiv2022

The SPHERE view of three interacting twin disc systems in polarised light

Dense stellar environments as hosts of ongoing star formation increase the probability of gravitational encounters among stellar systems during the early stages of evolution. Stellar interaction may occur through non-recurring, hyperbolic or parabolic passages (a so-called 'fly-by'), through secular binary evolution, or through binary capture. In all three scenarios, the strong gravitational perturbation is expected to manifest itself in the disc structures around the individual stars. Here, we present near-infrared polarised light observations that were taken with the SPHERE/IRDIS instrument of three known interacting twin-disc systems: AS 205, EM* SR 24, and FU Orionis. The scattered light exposes spirals likely caused by the gravitational interaction. On a larger scale, we observe connecting filaments between the stars. We analyse their very complex polarised intensity and put particular attention to the presence of multiple light sources in these systems. The local angle of linear polarisation indicates the source whose light dominates the scattering process from the bridging region between the two stars. Further, we show that the polarised intensity from scattering with multiple relevant light sources results from an incoherent summation of the individuals' contribution. This can produce nulls of polarised intensity in an image, as potentially observed in AS 205. We discuss the geometry and content of the systems by comparing the polarised light observations with other data at similar resolution, namely with ALMA continuum and gas emission. Collective observational data can constrain the systems' geometry and stellar trajectories, with the important potential to differentiate between dynamical scenarios of stellar interaction.

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arXiv2022

The impact of dynamic pressure bumps on the observational properties of protoplanetary disks

Over the last years, large (sub-)millimetre surveys of protoplanetary disks have well constrained the demographics of disks, such as their millimetre luminosities, spectral indices, and disk radii. Additionally, several high-resolution observations have revealed an abundance of substructures in the disks dust continuum. The most prominent are ring like structures, likely due to pressure bumps trapping dust particles. The origins and characteristics of these bumps, nevertheless, need to be further investigated. The purpose of this work is to study how dynamic pressure bumps affect observational properties of protoplanetary disks. We further aim to differentiate between the planetary- versus zonal flow-origin of pressure bumps. We perform one-dimensional gas and dust evolution simulations, setting up models with varying pressure bump features. We subsequently run radiative transfer calculations to obtain synthetic images and the different quantities of observations. We find that the outermost pressure bump determines the disks dust size across different millimetre wavelengths. Our modelled dust traps need to form early (< 0.1 Myr), fast (on viscous timescales), and must be long lived (> Myr) to obtain the observed high millimetre luminosities and low spectral indices of disks. While the planetary bump models can reproduce these observables irrespectively of the opacity prescription, the highest opacities are needed for the zonal flow bump model to be in line with observations. Our findings favour the planetary- over the zonal flow-origin of pressure bumps and support the idea that planet formation already occurs in early class 0-1 stages of circumstellar disks. The determination of the disks effective size through its outermost pressure bump also delivers a possible answer to why disks in recent low-resolution surveys appear to have the same sizes across different millimetre wavelengths.

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arXiv2022

Dust entrainment in magnetically and thermally driven disk winds

Magnetically and thermally driven disk winds have gained popularity in the light of the current paradigm of low viscosities in protoplanetary disks that nevertheless present large accretion rates even in the presence of inner cavities. The possibility of dust entrainment in these winds may explain recent scattered light observations and constitutes a way of dust transport towards outer regions of the disk. We aim to study the dust dynamics in these winds and explore the differences between photoevaporation and magnetically driven disk winds in this regard. We quantify maximum entrainable grain sizes, the flow angle, and the general detectability. We used the FARGO3D code to perform global, 2.5D axisymmetric, nonideal MHD simulations including ohmic and ambipolar diffusion. Dust was treated as a pressureless fluid. Synthetic observations were created with the radiative transfer code RADMC-3D. We find a significant difference in the dust entrainment efficiency of warm, ionized winds such as photoevaporation and magnetic winds including X-ray and extreme ultraviolet (XEUV) heating compared to cold magnetic winds. The maximum entrainable grain size varies from $3\,μ\mathrm{m}$ to $6\,μ\mathrm{m}$ for ionized winds to $1\,μ\mathrm{m}$ for cold magnetic winds. Dust grains in cold magnetic winds tend to flow along a shallower angle compared to the warm winds. With increasing distance to the central star, the dust entrainment efficiency decreases. Larger values of the turbulent viscosity increase the maximum grain size radius of possible dust entrainment. Our simulations indicate that diminishing dust content in the outer regions of the wind can be mainly attributed to the dust settling in the disk. In the synthetic images, the dusty wind appears as a faint, conical emission region which is brighter for a cold magnetic wind.

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arXiv2021

Self-Sustaining Vortices in Protoplanetary Disks: Setting the Stage for Planetary System Formation

The core accretion scenario of planet formation assumes that planetesimals and planetary embryos are formed during the primordial, gaseous phases of the protoplanetary disk. However, how the dust particles overcome the traditional growth barriers is not well understood. The recently proposed viscous ring-instability may explain the concentric rings observed in protoplanetary disks by assuming that the dust grains can reduce the gas conductivity, which can weaken the magneto-rotational instability. We present an analysis of this model with the help of GPU-based numerical hydrodynamic simulations of coupled gas and dust in the thin-disk limit. During the evolution of the disk the dusty rings become Rossby unstable and break up into a cascade of small-scale vortices. The vortices form secularly stable dusty structures, which could be sites of planetesimal formation by the streaming instability as well as direct gravitational collapse. The phenomenon of self-sustaining vortices is consistent with observational constraints of exoplanets and sets a favorable environment for planetary system formation.

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arXiv2020

Modeling the nonaxisymmetric structure in the HD 163296 disk with planet-disk interaction

High resolution ALMA observations revealed a variety of rich substructures in numerous protoplanetary disks. These structures consist of rings, gaps and asymmetric features. It is debated whether planets can be accounted for these substructures in the dust continuum. Characterizing the origin of asymmetries as seen in HD 163296 might lead to a better understanding of planet formation and the underlying physical parameters of the system. We test the possibility of the formation of the crescent-shaped asymmetry in the HD 163296 disk through planet-disk interaction. The goal is to obtain constraints on planet masses and eccentricities and disk viscosities. Two dimensional, multi-fluid, hydrodynamical simulations are performed with the FARGO3D code including three embedded planets. Dust is described with the pressureless fluid approach and is distributed over eight size bins. Resulting grids are post-processed with the radiative transfer code RADMC-3D and the CASA software to model synthetic observations. We find that the crescent-shaped asymmetry can be qualitatively modeled with a Jupiter mass planet at a radial distance of 48 au. Dust is trapped preferably in the trailing Lagrange point L5 with a mass of 10 to 15 earth masses. Increased values of eccentricity of the innermost Jupiter mass planet damages the stability of the crescent-shaped feature and does not reproduce the observed radial proximity to the first prominent ring in the system. Generally, a low level of viscosity ($α\leq 2\cdot10^{-3}$) is necessary to allow the existence of such a feature. Including dust feedback the leading point L4 can dominantly capture dust for dust grains with an initial Stokes number $\leq 3.6\cdot 10^{-2}$. The observational results suggest a negligible effect of dust feedback since only one such feature has been detected so far.

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arXiv2020

Migration jumps of planets in transition disks

Transition disks form a special class of protoplanetary disks that are characterized by a deficiency of disk material close to the star. In a subgroup, inner holes in these disks can stretch out to a few tens of au while there is still mass accretion onto the central star observed. We analyse the proposition that this type of wide transition disks is generated by the interaction of the disk with a system of embedded planets. We performed 2D hydrodynamics simulations of a flat disk using either a locally isothermal equation of state or considering also radiative effects. Two 3 to 9 Jupiter mass planets were embedded in the disk and their dynamical evolution due to disk-planet interaction was followed for over 100 000 years. The simulations account for mass accretion onto the star and planets. We included models with parameters geared to the system PDS 70. To assess the observability of features in our models we performed synthetic ALMA observations. For systems with a more massive inner planet there are phases where both planets migrate outward engaged in a 2:1 mean motion resonance via the Masset-Snellgrove mechanism. In sufficiently massive disks the formation of a vortex in the outer disk can trigger rapid outward migration of the outer planet where its distance increases by tens of au within a few thousand years. Later, the outer planet migrates back inwards settling again into resonance with the inner planet. We call this emerging composite phenomenon a 'migration jump'. Outward migration and the migration jumps are accompanied by a high mass accretion rate onto the star. The synthetic images reveal numerous substructures depending on the type of dynamical behaviour. Our results suggest that the outward migration of two embedded planets is a prime candidate for the explanation of the observed high stellar mass accretion rate in wide transition disks.

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arXiv2020

The Disk Substructures at High Angular Resolution Project (DSHARP): II. Characteristics of Annular Substructures

The Disk Substructures at High Angular Resolution Project used ALMA to map the 1.25 millimeter continuum of protoplanetary disks at a spatial resolution of ~5 au. We present a systematic analysis of annular substructures in the 18 single-disk systems targeted in this survey. No dominant architecture emerges from this sample; instead, remarkably diverse morphologies are observed. Annular substructures can occur at virtually any radius where millimeter continuum emission is detected and range in widths from a few au to tens of au. Intensity ratios between gaps and adjacent rings range from near-unity to just a few percent. In a minority of cases, annular substructures co-exist with other types of substructures, including spiral arms (3/18) and crescent-like azimuthal asymmetries (2/18). No clear trend is observed between the positions of the substructures and stellar host properties. In particular, the absence of an obvious association with stellar host luminosity (and hence the disk thermal structure) suggests that substructures do not occur preferentially near major molecular snowlines. Annular substructures like those observed in DSHARP have long been hypothesized to be due to planet-disk interactions. A few disks exhibit characteristics particularly suggestive of this scenario, including substructures in possible mean-motion resonance and "double gap" features reminiscent of hydrodynamical simulations of multiple gaps opened by a planet in a low-viscosity disk.

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arXiv2020

Importance of radiative effects in gap opening by planets in protoplanetary disks

Recent ALMA observations revealed concentric annular structures in several young class-II objects. In an attempt to produce the rings and gaps in some of these systems, they have been modeled numerically with a single embedded planet assuming a locally isothermal equation of state. This is often justified by observations targeting the irradiation-dominated outer regions of disks (approximately 100 au). We test this assumption by conducting hydrodynamics simulations of embedded planets in thin locally isothermal and radiative disks that mimic the systems HD 163296 and AS 209 in order to examine the effect of including the energy equation in a seemingly locally isothermal environment as far as planet-disk interaction is concerned. We find that modeling such disks with an ideal equation of state makes a difference in terms of the number of produced rings and the spiral arm contrast in the disk. Locally isothermal disks produce sharper annular or azimuthal features and overestimate a single planet's gap-opening capabilities by producing multiple gaps. In contrast, planets in radiative disks carve a single gap for typical disk parameters. Consequently, for accurate modeling of planets with semimajor axes up to about 100 au, radiative effects should be taken into account even in seemingly locally isothermal disks. In addition, for the case of AS 209, we find that the primary gap is significantly different between locally isothermal and radiative models. Our results suggest that multiple planets are required to explain the ring-rich structures in such systems.

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