Four annular structures in a protostellar disk less than 500,000 years old

TL;DR

This study presents high-resolution observations of a very young protostellar disk revealing four ring-like structures, suggesting that planet formation processes may start earlier than previously thought, during the Class I phase.

Contribution

The paper provides the first detailed imaging of multiple annular structures in a protostellar disk less than 500,000 years old, indicating early stages of planet formation.

Findings

Detection of four annular substructures in a young protostellar disk

Evidence that planet formation may begin earlier than current theories suggest

Supports the idea that dust grain growth starts in the Class I phase

Abstract

Annular structures, or rings and gaps, in disks around pre-main sequence stars have been detected in abundance towards Class II objects ~1,000,000 years in age. These structures are often interpreted as evidence of planet formation, with planet-mass bodies carving rings and gaps in the disk. This implies that planet formation may already be underway in even younger disks in the Class I phase, when the protostar is still embedded in a larger scale dense envelope of gas and dust. While younger disks likely play an important role in the onset of planet formation, only within the past decade have detailed properties of disks in the youngest star-forming phases begun to be observed. Here we present 1.3 mm dust emission observations with 5 au resolution that show four annular substructures in the disk of the young (<500,000 years) protostar IRS 63. IRS 63, a single Class I source located in the nearby Ophiuchus molecular cloud (at a distance of 144 pc), is one of the brightest Class I protostars at (sub)millimeter wavelengths that also has a relatively large disk (>50 au). Multiple annular substructures observed towards disks at young times can act as an early foothold for dust grain growth, a prerequisite of planet formation. Whether planets already exist or not in the disk of IRS 63, it is clear that the planet formation process begins in the young protostellar phases, earlier than predicted by current planet formation theories.