Science with an ngVLA: Dust growth and dust trapping in protoplanetary disks

TL;DR

The paper discusses how the ngVLA will enable detailed studies of dust growth and trapping in protoplanetary disks by providing high-resolution, long-wavelength observations that overcome current limitations of optical depth assumptions.

Contribution

It highlights the potential of ngVLA to resolve disk emission at centimeter wavelengths, advancing understanding of dust evolution and planet formation.

Findings

Current ALMA images show dust structures indicating trapping.

Optical depth effects complicate interpretation of millimeter emission.

ngVLA will enable optically thin observations at longer wavelengths.

Abstract

ALMA has revolutionized our view of protoplanetary disks, revealing structures such as gaps, rings and asymmetries that indicate dust trapping as an important mechanism in the planet formation process. However, the high resolution images have also shown that the optically thin assumption for millimeter continuum emission may not be valid and the low values of the spectral index may be related to optical depth rather than dust growth. Longer wavelength observations are essential to properly disentangle these effects. The high sensitivity and spatial resolution of the next-generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) will open up the possibilities to spatially resolve disk continuum emission at centimeter wavelengths and beyond, which allows the study of dust growth in disks in the optically thin regime and further constrain models of planet formation.