arXiv subjects

Taylor Kutra

Publications and source records attributed to Taylor Kutra.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Sites of Planet Formation in Binary Systems. II. Double the Disks in DF Tau

This article presents the latest results of our ALMA program to study circumstellar disk characteristics as a function of orbital and stellar properties in a sample of young binary star systems known to host at least one disk. Optical and infrared observations of the eccentric, ~48-year period binary DF Tau indicated the presence of only one disk around the brighter component. However, our 1.3 mm ALMA thermal continuum maps show two nearly-equal brightness components in this system. We present these observations within the context of updated stellar and orbital properties which indicate that the inner disk of the secondary is absent. Because the two stars likely formed together, with the same composition, in the same environment, and at the same time, we expect their disks to be co-eval. However the absence of an inner disk around the secondary suggests uneven dissipation. We consider several processes which have the potential to accelerate inner disk evolution. Rapid inner disk dissipation has important implications for planet formation, particularly in the terrestrial-planet-forming region.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2023

Irradiated Disks May Settle into Staircases

Much of a protoplanetary disk is thermally controlled by irradiation from the central star. Such a disk, long thought to have a smoothly flaring shape, is unstable to the so-called 'irradiation instability'. But what's the outcome of such an instability? In particular, is it possible that such a disk settles into a shape that is immune to the instability? We combine Athena++ with a simplified thermal treatment to show that passively heated disks settle into a 'staircase' shape. Here, the disk is punctuated by bright rings and dark gaps, with the bright rings intercepting the lion's share of stellar illumination, and the dark gaps hidden in their shadows. The optical surface of such a disk (height at which starlight is absorbed) resembles a staircase. Although our simulations do not have realistic radiative transfer, we use the RADMC3d code to show that this steady state is in good thermal equilibrium. It is possible that realistic disks reach such a state via ways not captured by our simulations. In contrast to our results here, two previous studies have claimed that irradiated disks stay smooth. We show here that they err on different issues. The staircase state, if confirmed by more sophisticated radiative hydrodynamic simulations, has a range of implications for disk evolution and planet formation.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2023

Eccentric Gas Disk Orbiting the White Dwarf SDSS J1228+1040

Metal pollution onto white dwarfs is a wide-spread phenomenon that remains puzzling. Some of these white dwarfs also harbour gaseous debris disks. Emission lines from these disks open a unique window to the physical properties of the polluting material, lending insights to their origin. We model the emission line kinematics for the gas disk around SDSS J1228+1040, a system that has been monitored for over two decades. We show that the disk mass is strongly peaked at 1 solar radius (modulo the unknown inclination), and the disk eccentricity decreases from a value of 0.44 at the inner edge, to nearly zero at the outer edge. This eccentricity profile is exactly what one expects if the disk is in a global eccentric mode, precessing rigidly under general relativity and gas pressure. The precession period is about two decades. We infer that the mass of the gas disk is roughly equivalent to that of a 50-km rocky body, while the mass of the accompanying dust disk is likely insignificant. The disk eccentricity confirms an origin in tidal disruption, while the short disk diffusion time suggests that the disruption event happened a few centuries ago. Moreover, we argue that the initial orbit for the disrupted body, and that of its putative planetary perturber, fall within an AU around the white dwarf. The total mass of the source population is likely orders of magnitude more massive than our own Asteroid belt, and does not seem to exist around main-sequence stars.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2020

Super-Earths and sub-Neptunes are Insensitive to Stellar Metallicity

Kepler planets (including super-Earths and sub-Neptunes, from 1 to 4 Earth radii) are likely formed before the gaseous proto-planetary disks have dissipated, as are the Jovian planets. If the metal content in these disks resembles that in the host stars, one might expect Kepler planets to occur more frequently, and to be more massive, around metal-rich stars. Contrary to these expectations, we find that the radii of Kepler planets (a proxy for mass) are independent of host metallicity. Previous claims that larger planets prefer more metal-rich stars can be adequately explained by the combined facts that more massive stars tend to host bigger planets, and that more massive stars are also more metal rich in the Kepler sample. We interpret this independence as that the mass of a Kepler planet is not determined by the availability of solids, but is instead regulated by an as yet unknown process. Moreover, we find that the occurrence rates of Kepler planets rise only weakly with stellar metallicity, a trend that is further flattened when the influence of close stellar binaries is accounted for. We explain this weak dependence, in contrast to the strong dependence exhibited by Jovian planets, using a phenomenological model, wherein the masses of proto-planetary disks have a much larger spread than the spread in stellar metallicity, and wherein the formation of Jovian planets requires disks that contain some $5$ times more solid than that needed to form Kepler planets. This model predicts that stars more metal-poor than half-solar should rarely host any Kepler planets.

astro-ph.EP↗