Planet gaps in the dust layer of 3D protoplanetary disks. II. Observability with ALMA

TL;DR

This study predicts how ALMA can observe planet-induced gaps in protoplanetary disks by incorporating detailed dust dynamics, showing that such features are detectable under optimal conditions, especially for planets of 1-5 Jupiter masses.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive method combining 3D gas+dust simulations with radiative transfer modeling to accurately predict ALMA observations of planet gaps, improving upon previous well-mixed assumptions.

Findings

Gaps created by 1 M_J planets are more visible with realistic dust dynamics.

5 M_J planets produce detectable inner disk deficits, risking misinterpretation as transition disks.

Inclination and declination have minimal impact on gap detectability.

Abstract

[Abridged] Aims: We provide predictions for ALMA observations of planet gaps that account for the specific spatial distribution of dust that results from consistent gas+dust dynamics. Methods: In a previous work, we ran full 3D, two-fluid Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations of a planet embedded in a gas+dust T Tauri disk for different planet masses and grain sizes. In this work, the resulting dust distributions are passed to the Monte Carlo radiative transfer code MCFOST to construct synthetic images in the ALMA wavebands. We then use the ALMA simulator to produce images that include thermal and phase noise for a range of angular resolutions, wavelengths, and integration times, as well as for different inclinations, declinations and distances. We also produce images which assume that gas and dust are well mixed with a gas-to-dust ratio of 100 to compare with previous ALMA predictions, all made under this hypothesis. Results: Our findings clearly demonstrate the importance of correctly incorporating the dust dynamics. We show that the gap carved by a 1 M_J planet orbiting at 40 AU is visible with a much higher contrast than the well-mixed assumption would predict. In the case of a 5 M_J planet, we clearly see a deficit in dust emission in the inner disk, and point out the risk of interpreting the resulting image as that of a transition disk with an inner hole if observed in unfavorable conditions. Planet signatures are fainter in more distant disks but declination or inclination to the line-of-sight have little effect on ALMA's ability to resolve the gaps. Conclusions: ALMA has the potential to see signposts of planets in disks of nearby star-forming regions. We present optimized observing parameters to detect them in the case of 1 and 5 M_J planets on 40 AU orbits.