Architecture of planetary systems predicted from protoplanetary disks observed with ALMA I: mass of the possible planets embedded in the dust gap

TL;DR

This study uses ALMA observations of protoplanetary disks to classify dust gaps and predict embedded planet masses based on gas and dust gap criteria, revealing migration processes in planetary system evolution.

Contribution

It introduces criteria to distinguish dust-only gaps from gas-involved gaps and predicts planet masses accordingly, advancing understanding of planet formation.

Findings

Outer gaps are mostly dust-only.

Inner gaps often involve gas gaps.

Predicted planet distribution suggests inward migration.

Abstract

Recent ALMA observations have identified a variety of dust gaps in protoplanetary disks, which are commonly interpreted to be generated by unobserved planets. Predicting mass of such embedded planets is of fundamental importance in comparing those disk architectures with the observed diversity of exoplanets. The prediction, however, depends on the assumption that whether the same gap structure exists in the dust component alone or in the gas component as well. We assume a planet can only open a gap in the gas component when its mass exceeds the pebble isolation mass by considering the core accretion scenario. We then propose two criteria to distinguish if a gap is opened in the dust disk alone or the gas gap as well when observation data on the gas profile is not available. We apply the criteria to 35 disk systems with a total of 55 gaps compiled from previous studies, and classify each gap into four different groups. The classification of the observed gaps allows us to predict the mass of embedded planets in a consistent manner with the pebble isolation mass. We find that outer gaps are mostly dust alone, while inner gaps are more likely to be associated with a gas gap as well. The distribution of such embedded planets is very different from the architecture of the observed planetary systems, suggesting that the significant inward migration is required in their evolution.