A potential site for wide-orbit giant planet formation in the IM Lup disk

TL;DR

This paper presents evidence that the IM Lup disk has experienced significant dust drift, creating conditions conducive to giant planet formation outside 20 au, with implications for understanding planetary formation regions.

Contribution

It demonstrates that high dust drift rates and turbulence levels in the IM Lup disk influence dust distribution, suggesting a specific formation zone for giant planets.

Findings

High dust drift rates (>110 M_earth/Myr) are needed to explain observations.

Inner disk dust is vertically extended, indicating high turbulence (alpha_z > 10^{-3}).

Giant planet formation via pebble accretion is likely outside 20 au.

Abstract

The radial transport, or drift, of dust has taken a critical role in giant planet formation theory. However, it has been challenging to identify dust drift pile ups in the hard-to-observe inner disk. We find that the IM Lup disk shows evidence that it has been shaped by an episode of dust drift. Using radiative transfer and dust dynamical modeling we study the radial and vertical dust distribution. We find that high dust drift rates exceeding 110 M_earth/Myr are necessary to explain both the dust and CO observations. Furthermore, the bulk of the large dust present in the inner 20 au needs to be vertically extended, implying high turbulence alpha_z > 10^{-3} and small grains (0.2-1 mm). We suggest that this increased level of particle stirring is consistent with the inner dust-rich disk undergoing turbulence triggered by the vertical shear instability. The conditions in the IM Lup disk imply that giant planet formation through pebble accretion is only effective outside 20 au. If such an early, high turbulence inner region is a natural consequence of high dust drift rates, then this has major implications for understanding the formation regions of giant planets including Jupiter and Saturn.