ALMA Discovery of a Disk around the Planetary-mass Companion SR 12 c

TL;DR

This study reports the first submillimeter detection of a circumplanetary disk around a wide planetary-mass companion, SR 12 c, revealing insights into disk properties and diversity around planetary-mass objects.

Contribution

First submillimeter detection of a disk around a wide planetary-mass companion, expanding understanding of disk properties in such systems.

Findings

Disk flux density of 127 μJy with an unresolved radius less than 5 au.

Disk dust mass comparable to PDS 70 c but lower than free-floating objects.

Gas-to-dust ratio likely exceeds 100, indicating a substantial gas component.

Abstract

We report an Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array 0.88 mm (Band 7) continuum detection of the accretion disk around SR 12 c, an $\sim$11 $M_{\rm Jup}$ planetary-mass companion (PMC) orbiting its host binary at 980 au. This is the first submillimeter detection of a circumplanetary disk around a wide PMC. The disk has a flux density of $127 \pm14~\mu$Jy and is not resolved by the $\sim$0.1" beam, so the dust disk radius is likely less than 5 au and can be much smaller if the dust continuum is optically thick. If, however, the dust emission is optically thin, then the SR 12 c disk has a comparable dust mass to the circumplanetary disk around PDS 70 c but is about five times lower than that of the $\sim$12 $M_{\rm Jup}$ free-floating OTS 44. This suggests that disks around bound and unbound planetary-mass objects can span a wide range of masses. The gas mass estimated with an accretion rate of $10^{-11}~M_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ implies a gas-to-dust ratio higher than 100. If cloud absorption is not significant, a nondetection of ${}^{12}$CO(3-2) implies a compact gas disk around SR 12 c. Future sensitive observations may detect more PMC disks at 0.88 mm flux densities of $\lesssim$100 $\mu$Jy.