Spiral Arms and a Massive Dust Disk with non-Keplerian Kinematics: Possible Evidence for Gravitational Instability in the Disk of Elias 2-27

TL;DR

This study uses multi-wavelength ALMA data and simulations to investigate the spiral structure of Elias 2-27, suggesting it results from gravitational instability triggered by infall, with evidence from dust and gas kinematics.

Contribution

It provides the first combined observational and simulation analysis indicating gravitational instability as the origin of Elias 2-27's spiral arms.

Findings

Detection of spiral arms at multiple wavelengths with dust-trapping signatures.

Identification of non-Keplerian gas kinematics and perturbations aligned with spirals.

Evidence of a massive, optically thick disk with signs of gravitational instability.

Abstract

To determine the origin of the spiral structure observed in the dust continuum emission of Elias 2-27 we analyze multi-wavelength continuum ALMA data with a resolution of $\sim$0.2 arcsec ($\sim$23au) at 0.89, 1.3 and 3.3mm. We also study the kinematics of the disk with $^{13}$CO and C$^{18}$O ALMA observations in the $J=$3-2 transition. The spiral arm morphology is recovered at all wavelengths in the dust continuum observations, where we measure contrast and spectral index variations along the spiral arms and detect subtle dust-trapping signatures. We determine that the emission from the midplane is cold and interpret the optical depth results as signatures of a higher disk mass than previous constraints. From the gas data, we search for deviations from Keplerian motion and trace the morphology of the emitting surfaces and the velocity profiles. We find an azimuthally varying emission layer height in the system, large-scale emission surrounding the disk, and strong perturbations in the channel maps, co-located with the spirals. Additionally, we develop multigrain dust and gas SPH simulations of a gravitationally unstable disk and compare them to the observations. Given the large scale emission and highly perturbed gas structure, together with the comparison of continuum observations to theoretical predictions, we propose infall-triggered gravitational instabilities as origin for the observed spiral structure.