Gaps, rings, and non-axisymmetric structures in protoplanetary disks - Emission from large grains

TL;DR

This study uses 3D magneto-hydrodynamic simulations and radiative transfer modeling to explore how large dust grains shape observable structures like rings and gaps in protoplanetary disks, and assesses ALMA's ability to detect these features.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive simulation approach combining MHD, dust dynamics, and radiative transfer to predict observable disk structures caused by dust trapping.

Findings

Pressure bumps lead to dust trapping in rings.

Vortices cause azimuthal dust inhomogeneities.

ALMA can resolve structures down to a few AU in nearby disks.

Abstract

Dust grains with sizes around (sub)mm are expected to couple only weakly to the gas motion in regions beyond 10 au of circumstellar disks. In this work, we investigate the influence of the spatial distribution of such grains on the (sub)mm appearance of magnetized protoplanetary disks. We perform non-ideal global 3D magneto-hydrodynamic stratified disk simulations including particles of different sizes (50 micron to 1 cm), using a Lagrangian particle solver. We calculate the spatial dust temperature distribution, including the dynamically coupled submicron-sized dust grains, and derive ideal continuum re-emission maps of the disk through radiative transfer simulations. Finally, we investigate the feasibility to observe specific structures in the thermal re-emission maps with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The pressure bump close to the outer edge of the dead-zone leads to particle trapping in ring structures. More specifically, vortices in the disk concentrate the dust and create an inhomogeneous distribution of the solid material in the azimuthal direction. The large-scale disk perturbations are preserved in the (sub)mm re-emission maps. The observable structures are very similar to those expected to result from planet-disk interaction. The larger dust particles increase the brightness contrast between gap and ring structures. We find that rings, gaps and the dust accumulation in the vortex could be traced with ALMA down to a scale of a few astronomical units in circumstellar disks located in nearby star-forming regions. Finally, we present a brief comparison of these structures with those recently found with ALMA in the young circumstellar disks of HL Tau and Oph IRS 48.