Protoplanetary disks in the hostile environment of Carina

TL;DR

This study presents the first direct imaging of protoplanetary disks in the distant Carina star-forming region, revealing disk properties, potential planet formation, and evidence of rapid disk destruction due to harsh radiation in dense cluster cores.

Contribution

It provides new observational data of disks in Carina using ALMA, demonstrating their sizes, masses, and the impact of environmental factors on disk survival and planet formation.

Findings

Disks around YSOs have average sizes of 120 AU and masses of 30-50 M_Jup.

Potential for ongoing or recent planet formation in these disks.

Evidence of rapid photo-evaporative disk destruction in the dense cluster core.

Abstract

We report the first direct imaging of protoplanetary disks in the star-forming region of Carina, the most distant, massive cluster in which disks have been imaged. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA), disks are observed around two young stellar objects (YSOs) that are embedded inside evaporating gaseous globules and exhibit jet activity. The disks have an average size of 120 AU and total masses of 30 and 50 M_Jup. Given the measured masses, the minimum timescale required for planet formation (~1-2 Myr) and the average age of the Carina population (~1-4 Myr), it is plausible that young planets are present or their formation is currently ongoing in these disks. The non-detection of millimeter emission above the 4sigma threshold (~7 M_Jup) in the core of the massive cluster Trumpler~14, an area containing previously identified proplyd candidates, suggest evidence for rapid photo-evaporative disk destruction in the cluster's harsh radiation field. This would prevent the formation of giant gas planets in disks located in the cores of Carina's dense sub-clusters, whereas the majority of YSO disks in the wider Carina region remain unaffected by external photo-evaporation.