ALMA 2D Super-resolution Imaging of Taurus-Auriga Protoplanetary Disks: Probing Statistical Properties of Disk Substructures

TL;DR

This study uses advanced super-resolution imaging on ALMA data to analyze the detailed substructures of protoplanetary disks in Taurus-Auriga, revealing insights into their physical properties and potential planet formation processes.

Contribution

It introduces a novel 2D super-resolution imaging technique that significantly improves spatial resolution of disk structures, enabling detailed statistical analysis of substructures in a large sample.

Findings

All disks are spatially resolved with radii 8-238 au.

Half of the disks show clear gap structures with bimodal radial distribution.

Gap widths increase with depth, consistent with planet-disk interaction models.

Abstract

In the past decade, ALMA observations of protoplanetary disks revealed various substructures including gaps and rings. Their origin may be probed through statistical studies on the physical properties of the substructures. We present the analyses of archival ALMA Band 6 continuum data of 43 disks (39 Class II and 4 Herbig Ae) in the Taurus-Auriga region. We employ a novel 2D super-resolution imaging technique based on sparse modeling to obtain images with high fidelity and spatial resolution. As a result, we have obtained images with spatial resolutions comparable to a few au ($0''.02 - 0''.1$), which is two to three times better than conventional CLEAN methods. All dust disks are spatially resolved, with the radii ranging from 8 to 238 au with a median radius of 45 au. Half of the disks harbor clear gap structures, whose radial locations show a bimodal distribution with peaks at $\lesssim20$ au and $\gtrsim30$ au. We also see structures indicating weak gaps at all the radii in the disk. We find that the widths of these gaps increase with their depths, which is consistent with the model of planet-disk interactions. The inferred planet mass-orbital radius distribution indicates that the planet distribution is analogous to our Solar System. However, planets with Neptune mass or lower may exist in all the radii.