First Results from the Disk Eclipse Search with KELT (DESK) Survey

TL;DR

This paper reports initial findings from the KELT exoplanet survey, discovering large dimming events in young stars RW Aurigae and V409 Tau, attributed to disk occultations influenced by binary interactions and disk features.

Contribution

First observational results identifying disk occultations in young stars, highlighting binary interactions and disk features affecting planet formation.

Findings

Discovered large dimming events in RW Aurigae and V409 Tau.

Attributed RW Aurigae dimming to a tidally disrupted disk from binary flyby.

Attributed V409 Tau dimming to a warp or perturbation in its circumstellar disk.

Abstract

Using time-series photometry from the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT) exoplanet survey, we are looking for eclipses of stars by their protoplanetary disks, specifically in young stellar associations. To date, we have discovered two previously unknown, large dimming events around the young stars RW Aurigae and V409 Tau. We attribute the dimming of RW Aurigae to an occultation by its tidally disrupted disk, with the disruption perhaps resulting from a recent flyby of its binary companion. Even with the dynamical environment of RW Aurigae, the distorted disk material remains very compact and presumably capable of forming planets. This system also shows that strong binary interactions with disks can also influence planet and core composition by stirring up and mixing materials during planet formation. We interpret the dimming of V409 Tau to be due to a feature, possibly a warp or perturbation, lying at least 10 AU from the host star in its nearly edge-on circumstellar disk.