Diverse protoplanetary disk morphology produced by a Jupiter-mass planet

TL;DR

This study combines hydrodynamic and dust evolution models to show that a single Jupiter-mass planet can produce a wide variety of protoplanetary disk morphologies observable in (sub-)millimeter wavelengths, influenced by disk viscosity, grain dynamics, and observational resolution.

Contribution

It demonstrates that diverse disk structures can arise from a single planet due to complex dust and gas interactions, highlighting the importance of including grain growth processes in disk models.

Findings

Disks with the same gas distribution can look very different in continuum.

Disk morphology depends on viscosity, grain size, and observational resolution.

A single planet can produce multiple observed disk structures.

Abstract

Combining hydrodynamic planet-disk interaction simulations with dust evolution models, we show that protoplanetary disks having a giant planet can reveal diverse morphology in (sub-)millimeter continuum, including a full disk without significant radial structure, a transition disk with an inner cavity, a disk with a single gap and a central continuum peak, and a disk with multiple rings and gaps. Such a diversity originates from (1) the level of viscous transport in the disk which determines the number of gaps a planet can open; (2) the size and spatial distributions of grains determined by the coagulation, fragmentation, and radial drift, which in turn affects the emmisivity of the disk at (sub-)millimeter wavelengths; and (3) the angular resolution used to observe the disk. In particular, our results show that disks having the same underlying gas distribution can have very different grain size/spatial distributions and thus appearance in continuum, depending on the interplay among coagulation, fragmentation, and radial drift. This suggests that proper treatments for the grain growth have to be included in models of protoplanetary disks concerning continuum properties and that complementary molecular line observations are highly desired in addition to continuum observations to reveal the true nature of disks. The fact that a single planet can produce diverse disk morphology emphasizes the need to search for more direct, localized signatures of planets in order to confirm (or dispute) the planetary origin of observed ringed substructures.