Direct detection of scattered light gaps in the transitional disk around HD 97048 with VLT/SPHERE

TL;DR

This study used high-resolution imaging to reveal detailed structures, including rings and gaps, in the circumstellar disk around HD 97048, providing insights into disk evolution and potential planet formation.

Contribution

First high-resolution polarimetric imaging of HD 97048's disk revealing multiple rings and gaps, and analysis of the disk's surface height profile and scattering properties.

Findings

Detected four ring-like brightness enhancements and gaps in the disk surface.

Derived the disk's inclination, position angle, and surface height profile.

Found the scattering phase function consistent with compact dust aggregates.

Abstract

We studied the well known circumstellar disk around the Herbig Ae/Be star HD 97048 with high angular resolution to reveal undetected structures in the disk, which may be indicative of disk evolutionary processes such as planet formation. We used the IRDIS near-IR subsystem of the extreme adaptive optics imager SPHERE at the ESO/VLT to study the scattered light from the circumstellar disk via high resolution polarimetry and angular differential imaging. We imaged the disk in unprecedented detail and revealed four ring-like brightness enhancements and corresponding gaps in the scattered light from the disk surface with radii between 39 au and 341 au. We derived the inclination and position angle as well as the height of the scattering surface of the disk from our observational data. We found that the surface height profile can be described by a single power law up to a separation ~270 au. Using the surface height profile we measured the scattering phase function of the disk and found that it is well consistent with theoretical models of compact dust aggregates. We discuss the origin of the detected features and find that low mass (< 1 M_Jup) nascent planets are a possible explanation.