# Exploring dust around HD142527 down to 0.025" / 4au using SPHERE/ZIMPOL

## TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution polarimetric imaging to reveal detailed dust structures, including spirals and potential inner disks, around HD 142527, highlighting the disk's complex morphology and possible rapid evolution.

## Contribution

First high-resolution polarimetric imaging of HD 142527's inner regions down to 4 au, revealing new sub-structures and potential disk evolution.

## Key findings

- Outer disk shows new sub-structures including spirals
- Inner dust scattering detected near the star
- Evidence suggests rapid evolution of inner disk regions

## Abstract

We have observed the protoplanetary disk of the well-known young Herbig star HD 142527 using ZIMPOL Polarimetric Differential Imaging with the VBB (Very Broad Band, ~600-900nm) filter. We obtained two datasets in May 2015 and March 2016. Our data allow us to explore dust scattering around the star down to a radius of ~0.025" (~4au). The well-known outer disk is clearly detected, at higher resolution than before, and shows previously unknown sub-structures, including spirals going inwards into the cavity. Close to the star, dust scattering is detected at high signal-to-noise ratio, but it is unclear whether the signal represents the inner disk, which has been linked to the two prominent local minima in the scattering of the outer disk, interpreted as shadows. An interpretation of an inclined inner disk combined with a dust halo is compatible with both our and previous observations, but other arrangements of the dust cannot be ruled out. Dust scattering is also present within the large gap between ~30 and ~140au. The comparison of the two datasets suggests rapid evolution of the inner regions of the disk, potentially driven by the interaction with the close-in M-dwarf companion, around which no polarimetric signal is detected.