An asymmetric dust ring around a very low mass star ZZ Tau IRS

TL;DR

This study uses ALMA observations to reveal an asymmetric dust ring around the very low mass star ZZ Tau IRS, indicating potential giant planet formation and challenging existing planet formation theories.

Contribution

First detailed ALMA imaging of a dust ring and asymmetry around a very low mass star, suggesting planet formation processes similar to those around more massive stars.

Findings

Detected a dust ring at 58 au with asymmetry at 45 au

Evidence of giant planet formation at ~10 au scale

Inner and outer disk may be misaligned

Abstract

We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) gas and dust observations at band 7 (339~GHz: 0.89~mm) of the protoplanetary disk around a very low mass star ZZ~Tau~IRS with a spatial resolution of 0\farcs25. The $^{12}$CO~$J=3\rightarrow2$ position--velocity diagram suggests a dynamical mass of ZZ~Tau~IRS of $\sim$0.1--0.3~$M_{\sun}$. The disk has a total flux density of 273.9 mJy, corresponding to an estimated mass of 24--50~$M_\oplus$ in dust. The dust emission map shows a ring at $r=$ 58~au and an azimuthal asymmetry at $r=$ \jh{45}~au with a position angle of 135\degr. The properties of the asymmetry, including radial width, aspect ratio, contrast, and contribution to the total flux, were found to be similar to the asymmetries around intermediate mass stars ($\sim$2~$M_{\sun}$) such as MWC~758 and IRS~48. This implies that the asymmetry in the ZZ~Tau~IRS disk shares a similar origin with others, despite the star being $\sim$10 times less massive. Our observations also suggest that the inner and outer parts of the disk may be misaligned. Overall, the ZZ~Tau~IRS disk shows evidence of giant planet formation at $\sim$10 au scale at a few Myr. If confirmed, it will challenge existing core accretion models, in which such planets have been predicted to be extremely hard to form around very low mass stars.