Molecules with ALMA at Planet-forming Scales (MAPS). XV. Tracing protoplanetary disk structure within 20 au

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution ALMA observations to analyze the gas and dust distribution within 20 au of protoplanetary disks, revealing dust pileups, gas cavities, and the potential for planet formation processes like streaming instability.

Contribution

It provides detailed radial surface brightness profiles of CO isotopologues at ~3 au resolution, uncovering inner disk structures and dust-gas interactions in multiple protoplanetary disks.

Findings

Detection of a dust pileup of ~500 M⊕ within 20 au in IM Lup.

Identification of a small (~15 au) gas cavity in GM Aur.

Observation of gas-rich dust gaps and rings in AS 209 and HD 163296.

Abstract

Constraining the distribution of gas and dust in the inner 20 au of protoplanetary disks is difficult. At the same time, this region is thought to be responsible for most planet formation, especially around the water ice line at 3-10 au. Under the assumption that the gas is in a Keplerian disk, we use the exquisite sensitivity of the Molecules with ALMA at Planet-forming Scales (MAPS) ALMA large program to construct radial surface brightness profiles with a ~3 au effective resolution for the CO isotopologue J=2-1 lines using the line velocity profile. IM Lup reveals a central depression in 13CO and C18O that is ascribed to a pileup of ~500 $M_\oplus$ of dust in the inner 20 au, leading to a gas-to-dust ratio of around <10. This pileup is consistent with efficient drift of grains ($\gtrsim$ 100 $M_\oplus$ Myr$^{-1}$) and a local gas-to-dust ratio that suggests that the streaming instability could be active. The CO isotopologue emission in the GM Aur disk is consistent with a small (~15 au), strongly depleted gas cavity within the ~40 au dust cavity. The radial surface brightness profiles for both the AS 209 and HD 163296 disks show a local minimum and maximum in the C18O emission at the location of a known dust ring (~14 au) and gap (~10 au), respectively. This indicates that the dust ring has a low gas-to-dust ratio ($>$ 10) and that the dust gap is gas-rich enough to have optically thick C18O.