arXiv subjects

Zhaohuan Zhu

Publications and source records attributed to Zhaohuan Zhu.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

The Disk Substructures at High Angular Resolution Project (DSHARP): IV. Characterizing substructures and interactions in disks around multiple star systems

To characterize the substructures induced in protoplanetary disks by the interaction between stars in multiple systems, we study the $1.25\,$mm continuum and the $^{12}$CO$(J=2-1)$ spectral line emission of the triple systems HT Lup and AS 205, at scales of $\approx 5\,$au, as part of the 'Disk Substructures at High Angular Resolution Project' (DSHARP). In the continuum emission, we find two symmetric spiral arms in the disk around AS 205 N, with pitch angle of $14^\circ$, while the southern component AS 205 S, itself a spectroscopic binary, is surrounded by a compact inner disk and a bright ring at a radius of $34\,$au. The $^{12}$CO line exhibits clear signatures of tidal interactions, with spiral arms, extended arc-like emission, and high velocity gas, possible evidence of a recent close encounter between the disks in the AS 205 system, as these features are predicted by hydrodynamic simulations of fly-by encounters. In the HT Lup system, we detect continuum emission from all three components. The primary disk, HT Lup A, also shows two-armed symmetric spiral structure with a pitch angle of $4^\circ$, while HT Lup B and C, located at $25$ and $434\,$au in projected separation from HT Lup A, are barely resolved with $\sim5$ and $\sim10\,$au in diameter, respectively. The gas kinematics for the closest pair indicates a different sense of rotation for each disk, which could be explained by either a counter rotation of the two disks in different, close to parallel, planes, or by a projection effect of these disks with a close to $90^\circ$ misalignment between them.

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arXiv2018

Disk Substructures at High Angular Resolution Program (DSHARP): VIII. The Rich Ringed Substructures in the AS 209 Disk

We present a detailed analysis of the high-angular resolution (0.''037, corresponding to 5 au) observations of the 1.25 mm continuum and $^{12}$CO $2-1$ emission from the disk around the T Tauri star AS 209. AS 209 hosts one of the most unusual disks from the DSHARP sample, the first high angular resolution ALMA survey of disks (Andrews et al. 2018), as nearly all of the emission can be explained with concentric Gaussian rings. In particular, the dust emission consists of a series of narrow and closely spaced rings in the inner $\sim$60 au, two well-separated bright rings in the outer disk, centered at 74 and 120 au, and at least two fainter emission features at 90 and 130 au. We model the visibilities with a parametric representation of the radial surface brightness profile, consisting of a central core and 7 concentric Gaussian rings. Recent hydro-dynamical simulations of low viscosity disks show that super-Earth planets can produce the multiple gaps seen in AS 209 millimeter continuum emission. The $^{12}$CO line emission is centrally peaked and extends out to $\sim$300 au, much farther than the millimeter dust emission. We find axisymmetric, localized deficits of CO emission around four distinct radii, near 45, 75, 120 and 210 au. The outermost gap is located well beyond the edge of the millimeter dust emission, and therefore cannot be due to dust opacity and must be caused by a genuine CO surface density reduction, due either to chemical effects or depletion of the overall gas content.

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arXiv2018

The Disk Substructures at High Angular Resolution Project (DSHARP): I. Motivation, Sample, Calibration, and Overview

We introduce the Disk Substructures at High Angular Resolution Project (DSHARP), one of the initial Large Programs conducted with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The primary goal of DSHARP is to find and characterize substructures in the spatial distributions of solid particles for a sample of 20 nearby protoplanetary disks, using very high resolution (0.035 arcsec, or 5 au FWHM) observations of their 240 GHz (1.25 mm) continuum emission. These data provide a first homogeneous look at the small-scale features in disks that are directly relevant to the planet formation process, quantifying their prevalence, morphologies, spatial scales, spacings, symmetry, and amplitudes, for targets with a variety of disk and stellar host properties. We find that these substructures are ubiquitous in this sample of large, bright disks. They are most frequently manifested as concentric, narrow emission rings and depleted gaps, although large-scale spiral patterns and small arc-shaped azimuthal asymmetries are also present in some cases. These substructures are found at a wide range of disk radii (from a few au to more than 100 au), are usually compact ($<$10 au), and show a wide range of amplitudes (brightness contrasts). Here we discuss the motivation for the project, describe the survey design and the sample properties, detail the observations and data calibration, highlight some basic results, and provide a general overview of the key conclusions that are presented in more detail in a series of accompanying articles. The DSHARP data -- including visibilities, images, calibration scripts, and more -- are released for community use at https://almascience.org/alma-data/lp/DSHARP.

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arXiv2018

The Disk Substructures at High Angular Resolution Project (DSHARP) VI: Dust trapping in thin-ringed protoplanetary disks

A large fraction of the protoplanetary disks observed with ALMA display multiple well-defined and nearly perfectly circular rings in the continuum, in many cases with substantial peak-to-valley contrast. The DSHARP campaign shows that several of these rings are very narrow in radial extent. In this paper we test the hypothesis that these dust rings are caused by dust trapping in radial pressure bumps, and if confirmed, put constraints on the physics of the dust trapping mechanism. We model this process analytically in 1D, assuming axisymmetry. By comparing this model to the data, we find that all rings are consistent with dust trapping. Based on a plausible model of the dust temperature we find that several rings are narrower than the pressure scale height, providing strong evidence for dust trapping. The rings have peak absorption optical depth in the range between 0.2 and 0.5. The dust masses stored in each of these rings is of the order of tens of Earth masses, though much ambiguity remains due to the uncertainty of the dust opacities. The dust rings are dense enough to potentially trigger the streaming instability, but our analysis cannot give proof of this mechanism actually operating. Our results show, however, that the combination of very low alpha_turb << 5e-4 and very large grains a_grain >> 0.1 cm can be excluded by the data for all the rings studied in this paper.

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arXiv2018

The Disk Substructures at High Angular Resolution Project (DSHARP): V. Interpreting ALMA maps of protoplanetary disks in terms of a dust model

The Disk Substructures at High Angular Resolution Project (DSHARP) is the largest homogeneous high-resolution ($\sim 0.035$ arcsec, or $\sim$ 5 au) disk continuum imaging survey with ALMA so far. In the coming years, many more disks will be mapped with ALMA at similar resolution. Interpreting the results in terms of the properties and quantities of the emitting dusty material is, however, a very non-trivial task. This is in part due to the uncertainty in the dust opacities, an uncertainty which is not likely to be resolved any time soon. It is also partly due to the fact that, as the DSHARP survey has shown, these disk often contain regions of intermediate to high optical depth, even at millimeter wavelengths and at relatively large radius in the disk. This makes the interpretation challenging, in particular if the grains are large and have a large albedo. On the other hand, the highly structured features seen in the DSHARP survey, of which strong indications were already seen in earlier observations, provide a unique opportunity to study the dust growth and dynamics. To provide continuity within the DSHARP project, its follow-up projects, and projects by other teams interested in these data, we present here the methods and opacity choices used within the DSHARP collaboration to link the measured intensity $I_ν$ to dust surface density $Σ_d$.

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arXiv2018

The Disk Substructures at High Angular Resolution Project (DSHARP): VII. The Planet-Disk Interactions Interpretation

The Disk Substructures at High Angular Resolution Project (DSHARP) provides a large sample of protoplanetary disks having substructures which could be induced by young forming planets. To explore the properties of planets that may be responsible for these substructures, we systematically carry out a grid of 2-D hydrodynamical simulations including both gas and dust components. We present the resulting gas structures, including the relationship between the planet mass and 1) the gaseous gap depth/width, and 2) the sub/super-Keplerian motion across the gap. We then compute dust continuum intensity maps at the frequency of the DSHARP observations. We provide the relationship between the planet mass and 1) the depth/width of the gaps at millimeter intensity maps, 2) the gap edge ellipticity and asymmetry, and 3) the position of secondary gaps induced by the planet. With these relationships, we lay out the procedure to constrain the planet mass using gap properties, and study the potential planets in the DSHARP disks. We highlight the excellent agreement between observations and simulations for AS 209 and the detectability of the young Solar System analog. Finally, under the assumption that the detected gaps are induced by young planets, we characterize the young planet population in the planet mass-semimajor axis diagram. We find that the occurrence rate for $>$ 5 $M_J$ planets beyond 5-10 au is consistent with direct imaging constraints. Disk substructures allow us probe a wide-orbit planet population (Neptune to Jupiter mass planets beyond 10 au) that is not accessible to other planet searching techniques.

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arXiv2018

The Disk Substructures at High Angular Resolution Project (DSHARP): X. Multiple rings, a misaligned inner disk, and a bright arc in the disk around the T Tauri star HD 143006

We present a detailed analysis of new ALMA observations of the disk around the T-Tauri star HD 143006, which at 46 mas (7.6 au) resolution reveal new substructures in the 1.25 mm continuum emission. The disk resolves into a series of concentric rings and gaps together with a bright arc exterior to the rings that resembles hydrodynamics simulations of a vortex, and a bridge-like feature connecting the two innermost rings. Although our $^{12}$CO observations at similar spatial resolution do not show obvious substructure, they reveal an inner disk depleted of CO emission. From the continuum emission and the CO velocity field we find that the innermost ring has a higher inclination than the outermost rings and the arc. This is evidence for either a small ($\sim8^{\circ}$) or moderate ($\sim41^{\circ}$) misalignment between the inner and outer disk, depending on the specific orientation of the near/far sides of the inner/outer disk. We compare the observed substructures in the ALMA observations with recent scattered light data from VLT/SPHERE of this object. In particular, the location of narrow shadow lanes in the SPHERE image combined with pressure scale height estimates, favor a large misalignment of about $41^{\circ}$. We discuss our findings in the context of a dust-trapping vortex, planet-carved gaps, and a misaligned inner disk due to the presence of an inclined companion to HD 143006.

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arXiv2018

The Disk Substructures at High Angular Resolution Project (DSHARP) - IX. A high definition study of the HD 163296 planet forming disk

ALMA observations of protoplanetary disks acquired by the Disk Substructure at High Angular Resolution Project (DSHARP) resolve the dust and gas emission on angular scales as small as 3 astronomical units, offering an unprecedented detailed view of the environment where planets form. In this article, we present and discuss observations of the HD 163296 protoplanetary disk that imaged the 1.25 mm dust continuum and $^{12}$CO J=2-1 rotational line emission at a spatial resolution of 4 and 10 au, respectively. The continuum observations resolve and allow us to characterize the previously discovered dust rings at radii of 67 and 100 au. They also reveal new small scale structures, such as a dark gap at 10 au, a bright ring at 15 au, a dust crescent at a radius of 55 au, and several fainter azimuthal asymmetries. The observations of the CO and dust emission inform about the vertical structure of the disk and allow us to directly constrain the dust extinction optical depth at the dust rings. Furthermore, the observed asymmetries in the dust continuum emission corroborate to the hypothesis that the complex structure of the HD 163296 disk is the result of the gravitational interaction with yet unseen planets.

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arXiv2018

Inclined Massive Planets in a Protoplanetary Disc: Gap Opening, Disc Breaking, and Observational Signatures

We carry out three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations to study planet-disc interactions for inclined high mass planets, focusing on the disc's secular evolution induced by the planet. We find that, when the planet is massive enough and the induced gap is deep enough, the disc inside the planet's orbit breaks from the outer disc. The inner and outer discs precess around the system's total angular momentum vector independently at different precession rates, which causes significant disc misalignment. We derive the analytical formulae, which are also verified numerically, for: 1) the relationship between the planet mass and the depth/width of the induced gap, 2) the migration and inclination damping rates for massive inclined planets, and 3) the condition under which the inner and outer discs can break and undergo differential precession. Then, we carry out Monte-Carlo radiative transfer calculations for the simulated broken discs. Both disc shadowing in near-IR images and gas kinematics probed by molecular lines (e.g. from ALMA) can reveal the misaligned inner disc. The relationship between the rotation rate of the disc shadow and the precession rate of the inner disc is also provided. Using our disc breaking condition, we conclude that the disc shadowing due to misaligned discs should be accompanied by deep gaseous gaps (e.g. in Pre/Transitional discs). This scenario naturally explains both the disc shadowing and deep gaps in several systems (e.g. HD 100453, DoAr 44, AA Tau, HD 143006) and these systems should be the prime targets for searching young massive planets ($>M_J$) in discs.

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arXiv2018

Cm-wavelength observations of MWC758: resolved dust trapping in a vortex

The large crescents imaged by ALMA in transition disks suggest that azimuthal dust trapping concentrates the larger grains, but centimetre-wavelengths continuum observations are required to map the distribution of the largest observable grains. A previous detection at ~1cm of an unresolved clump along the outer ring of MWC758 (Clump1), and buried inside more extended sub-mm continuum, motivates followup VLA observations. Deep multiconfiguration integrations reveal the morphology of Clump 1 and additional cm-wave components which we characterize via comparison with a deconvolution of recent 342GHz data (~1mm). Clump1, which concentrates ~1/3 of the whole disk flux density at ~1cm, is resolved as a narrow arc with a deprojected aspect ratio Chi>5.6, and with half the azimuthal width than at 342 GHz. The spectral trends in the morphology of Clump1 are quantitatively consistent with the Lyra-Lin prescriptions for dust trapping in an anticyclonic vortex, provided with porous grains (f~0.2+-0.2) in a very elongated (Chi~14+-3) and cold (T~23+-2K) vortex. The same prescriptions constrain the turbulence parameter alpha and the gas surface density Sigma_g through log10( alpha x Sigma_g /g/cm2)~-2.3+-0.4, thus requiring values for Sigma_g larger than a factor of a few compared to that reported in the literature from the CO isotopologues, if alpha <~ 1E-3. Such physical conditions imply an appreciably optically thick continuum even at cm-wavelengths (tau(33GHz)~0.2). A secondary and shallower peak at 342GHz is about twice fainter relative to Clump1 at 33GHz. Clump2 appears to be less efficient at trapping large grains.

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arXiv2018

Science with an ngVLA: Resolving the Radio Complexity of EXor and FUor-type Systems with the ngVLA

Episodic accretion may be a common occurrence in the evolution of young pre-main sequence stars and has important implications for our understanding of star and planet formation. Many fundamental aspects of what drives the accretion physics, however, are still unknown. The ngVLA will be a key tool in understanding the nature of these events. The high spatial resolution, broad spectral coverage, and unprecedented sensitivity will allow for the detailed analysis of outburst systems. The proposed frequency range of the ngVLA allows for observations of the gas, dust, and non-thermal emission from the star and disk.

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arXiv2018

A Bayesian Framework for Exoplanet Direct Detection and Non-Detection

Rigorously quantifying the information in high contrast imaging data is important for informing follow-up strategies to confirm the substellar nature of a point source, constraining theoretical models of planet-disk interactions, and deriving planet occurrence rates. However, within the exoplanet direct imaging community, non-detections have almost exclusively been defined using a frequentist detection threshold (i.e. contrast curve) and associated completeness. This can lead to conceptual inconsistencies when included in a Bayesian framework. A Bayesian upper limit is such that the true value of a parameter lies below this limit with a certain probability. The associated probability is the integral of the posterior distribution with the upper limit as the upper bound. In summary, a frequentist upper limit is a statement about the detectability of planets while a Bayesian upper limit is a statement about the probability of a parameter to lie in an interval given the data. The latter is therefore better suited for rejecting hypotheses or theoretical models based on their predictions. In this work we emphasize that Bayesian statistics and upper limits are more easily interpreted and typically more constraining than the frequentist approach. We illustrate the use of Bayesian analysis in two different cases: 1) with a known planet location where we also propose to use model comparison to constrain the astrophysical nature of the point source and 2) gap-carving planets in TW Hya. To finish, we also mention the problem of combining radial velocity and direct imaging observations.

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arXiv2018

The Planet Formation Imager

The Planet Formation Imager (PFI, www.planetformationimager.org) is a next-generation infrared interferometer array with the primary goal of imaging the active phases of planet formation in nearby star forming regions. PFI will be sensitive to warm dust emission using mid-infrared capabilities made possible by precise fringe tracking in the near-infrared. An L/M band combiner will be especially sensitive to thermal emission from young exoplanets (and their disks) with a high spectral resolution mode to probe the kinematics of CO and H2O gas. In this paper, we give an overview of the main science goals of PFI, define a baseline PFI architecture that can achieve those goals, point at remaining technical challenges, and suggest activities today that will help make the Planet Formation Imager facility a reality.

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arXiv2018

Parametric Study of the Rossby Wave Instability in a Two-dimensional Barotropic Disk II: Non-Linear Calculations

Vortices in protoplanetary disks have attracted attention since the discovery of lopsided structures. One of the possible mechanisms for producing vortices is the Rossby Wave Instability (RWI). In our previous work, we have performed detailed linear stability analyses of the RWI with various initial conditions. In this paper, we perform numerical simulations of the vortex formation by the RWI in 2D barotropic disks using the Athena++ code. As initial conditions, we consider axisymmetric disks with a Gaussian surface density bump of various contrasts and half-widths. Perturbations grow as expected from the linear stability analyses in the linear and weakly non-linear regimes. After the saturation, multiple vortices are formed in accordance with the most unstable azimuthal mode and coalesce one after another. In the end, only one quasi-stationary vortex (the RWI vortex) remains, which migrates inward. During the RWI evolution, the axisymmetric component approaches the stable configuration. We find that the axisymmetric component reaches the marginally stable state for the most unstable azimuthal mode at the saturation and the marginally stable state for the m = 1 mode at the final vortex merger. We investigate the structure and evolution of the RWI vortices. We obtain some empirical relations between the properties of the RWI vortices and the initial conditions. Using tracer particle analyses, we find that the RWI vortex can be considered as a physical entity like a large fluid particle. Our results provide a solid theoretical ground for quantitative interpretation of the observed lopsided structures in protoplanetary disks.

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arXiv2018

The Eccentric Cavity, Triple Rings, Two-Armed Spirals, and Double Clumps of the MWC 758 Disk

Spatially resolved structures in protoplanetary disks hint at unseen planets. Previous imaging observations of the transitional disk around MWC 758 revealed an inner cavity, a ring-like outer disk, emission clumps, and spiral arms, all possibly generated by companions. We present ALMA dust continuum observations of MWC 758 at 0.87 millimeter (mm) wavelength with 43$\times$39 mas angular resolution (6.9$\times$6.2 AU) and 20 $μ$Jy beam$^{-1}$ rms. The central sub-mm emission cavity is revealed to be eccentric; once deprojected, its outer edge can be well-fitted by an ellipse with an eccentricity of 0.1 and one focus on the star. The broad ring-like outer disk is resolved into three narrow rings with two gaps in between. The outer two rings tentatively show the same eccentricity and orientation as the innermost ring bounding the inner cavity. The two previously known dust emission clumps are resolved in both the radial and azimuthal directions, with radial widths equal to $\sim$4$\times$ the local scale height. Only one of the two spiral arms previously imaged in near-infrared (NIR) scattered light is revealed in ALMA dust emission, at a slightly larger stellocentric distance owing to projection effects. We also submit evidence of disk truncation at $\sim$100 AU based on comparing NIR imaging observations with models. The spirals, the north clump, and the truncated disk edge are all broadly consistent with the presence of one companion exterior to the spirals at roughly 100 AU.

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arXiv2018

Planet-driven spiral arms in protoplanetary disks: II. Implications

We examine whether various characteristics of planet-driven spiral arms can be used to constrain the masses of unseen planets and their positions within their disks. By carrying out two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations varying planet mass and disk gas temperature, we find that a larger number of spiral arms form with a smaller planet mass and a lower disk temperature. A planet excites two or more spiral arms interior to its orbit for a range of disk temperature characterized by the disk aspect ratio $0.04\leq(h/r)_p\leq0.15$, whereas exterior to a planet's orbit multiple spiral arms can form only in cold disks with $(h/r)_p \lesssim 0.06$. Constraining the planet mass with the pitch angle of spiral arms requires accurate disk temperature measurements that might be challenging even with ALMA. However, the property that the pitch angle of planet-driven spiral arms decreases away from the planet can be a powerful diagnostic to determine whether the planet is located interior or exterior to the observed spirals. The arm-to-arm separations increase as a function of planet mass, consistent with previous studies; however, the exact slope depends on disk temperature as well as the radial location where the arm-to-arm separations are measured. We apply these diagnostics to the spiral arms seen in MWC 758 and Elias 2-27. As shown in Bae et al. (2017), planet-driven spiral arms can create concentric rings and gaps, which can produce more dominant observable signature than spiral arms under certain circumstances. We discuss the observability of planet-driven spiral arms versus rings and gaps.

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arXiv2018

Witnessing Planetary Systems in the Making with the Next Generation Very Large Array

The discovery of thousands of exoplanets over the last couple of decades has shown that the birth of planets is a very efficient process in nature. Theories invoke a multitude of mechanisms to describe the assembly of planets in the disks around pre-main-sequence stars, but observational constraints have been sparse on account of insufficient sensitivity and resolution. Understanding how planets form and interact with their parental disk is crucial also to illuminate the main characteristics of a large portion of the full population of planets that is inaccessible to current and near-future observations. This White Paper describes some of the main issues for our current understanding of the formation and evolution of planets, and the critical contribution expected in this field by the Next Generation Very Large Array.

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arXiv2018

Inside-Out Planet Formation. IV. Pebble Evolution and Planet Formation Timescales

Systems with tightly-packed inner planets (STIPs) are very common. Chatterjee & Tan proposed Inside-Out Planet Formation (IOPF), an in situ formation theory, to explain these planets. IOPF involves sequential planet formation from pebble-rich rings that are fed from the outer disk and trapped at the pressure maximum associated with the dead zone inner boundary (DZIB). Planet masses are set by their ability to open a gap and cause the DZIB to retreat outwards. We present models for the disk density and temperature structures that are relevant to the conditions of IOPF. For a wide range of DZIB conditions, we evaluate the gap opening masses of planets in these disks that are expected to lead to truncation of pebble accretion onto the forming planet. We then consider the evolution of dust and pebbles in the disk, estimating that pebbles typically grow to sizes of a few cm during their radial drift from several tens of AU to the inner, $\lesssim1\:$AU-scale disk. A large fraction of the accretion flux of solids is expected to be in such pebbles. This allows us to estimate the timescales for individual planet formation and entire planetary system formation in the IOPF scenario. We find that to produce realistic STIPs within reasonable timescales similar to disk lifetimes requires disk accretion rates of $\sim10^{-9}\:M_\odot\:{\rm yr}^{-1}$ and relatively low viscosity conditions in the DZIB region, i.e., Shakura-Sunyaev parameter of $α\sim10^{-4}$.

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