ALMA 870 $\mu$m continuum observations of HD 100546. Evidence of a giant planet on a wide orbit

TL;DR

This study uses ALMA observations and simulations to reveal a complex dust structure around HD 100546, suggesting the presence of multiple giant protoplanets influencing the disk's morphology and gas dynamics.

Contribution

It provides new high-resolution ALMA observations of the dust structures and introduces smoothed-particle-hydrodynamic simulations that support the existence of two giant protoplanets shaping the disk.

Findings

Detection of a wide dust gap and a faint outer ring with azimuthal asymmetries.

Simulation results indicating two giant protoplanets at 15 au and 110 au.

Perturbed gas dynamics consistent with the presence of a massive outer planet.

Abstract

This paper reports on a new analysis of archival ALMA $870\,\mu$m dust continuum observations. Along with the previously observed bright inner ring ($r \sim 20-40\,$au), two addition substructures are evident in the new continuum image: a wide dust gap, $r \sim 40-150\,$au, and a faint outer ring ranging from $r \sim 150\,$au to $r \sim 250\,$au and whose presence was formerly postulated in low-angular-resolution ALMA cycle 0 observations but never before observed. Notably, the dust emission of the outer ring is not homogeneous, and it shows two prominent azimuthal asymmetries that resemble an eccentric ring with eccentricity $e = 0.07 $. The characteristic double-ring dust structure of HD 100546 is likely produced by the interaction of the disk with multiple giant protoplanets. This paper includes new smoothed-particle-hydrodynamic simulations with two giant protoplanets, one inside of the inner dust cavity and one in the dust gap. The simulations qualitatively reproduce the observations, and the final masses and orbital distances of the two planets in the simulations are 3.1 $M_{J}$ at 15 au and 8.5 $M_{J}$ at 110 au, respectively. The massive outer protoplanet substantially perturbs the disk surface density distribution and gas dynamics, producing multiple spiral arms both inward and outward of its orbit. This can explain the observed perturbed gas dynamics inward of 100 au as revealed by ALMA observations of CO. Finally, the reduced dust surface density in the $\sim 40-150\,$au dust gap can nicely clarify the origin of the previously detected H$_2$O gas and ice emission.