Distributions of gas and small and large grains in the LkH$\alpha\,330$ disk trace a young planetary system

TL;DR

This study combines high-resolution scattered light and millimeter observations with hydrodynamical simulations to investigate the structure of the LkHα 330 disk, revealing potential signs of an embedded eccentric planet influencing disk morphology.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed multi-wavelength observational analysis of LkHα 330's disk and demonstrates that a 10 Mjup planet in an eccentric orbit can explain observed features.

Findings

Asymmetric rings and spiral arms observed in the disk.

A 10 Mjup planet at 60au with eccentric orbit explains disk structures.

Eccentricity influences spiral arm morphology and cavity shape.

Abstract

[abridged] We present new scattered light and millimeter observations of the protoplanetary disk around LkH$\alpha\,330$, using SPHERE/VLT and ALMA, respectively. The scattered-light SPHERE observations reveal an asymmetric ring at around 45au from the star in addition to two spiral arms with similar radial launching points at around 90au. The millimeter observations from ALMA (resolution of 0.06''$\times$0.04'') mainly show an asymmetric ring located at 110au from the star. In addition to this asymmetry, there are two faint symmetric rings at 60au and 200au. The $^{12}$CO, $^{13}$CO, and C$^{18}$O lines seem to be less abundant in the inner disk (these observations have a resolution of 0.16''$\times$0.11''). The $^{13}$CO peaks at a location similar to the inner ring observed with SPHERE, suggesting that this line is optically thick and traces variations of disk temperature instead of gas surface-density variations, while the C$^{18}$O peaks slightly further away at around 60au. We compare our observations with hydrodynamical simulations that include gas and dust evolution, and conclude that a 10$M_{\rm{Jup}}$ mass planet at 60au and in an eccentric orbit ($e=0.1$) can qualitatively explain most of the observed structures. A planet in a circular orbit leads to a much narrower concentration in the millimeter emission, while a planet in a more eccentric orbit leads to a very eccentric cavity as well. In addition, the outer spiral arm launched by the planet changes its pitch angle along the spiral due to the eccentricity and when it interacts with the vortex, potentially appearing in observations as two distinct spirals. Our observations and models show that LkH$\alpha\,330$ is an interesting target to search for (eccentric-) planets while they are still embedded in their parental disk, making it an excellent candidate for studies on planet-disk interaction.