Asymmetric dust accumulation of the PDS 70 disk revealed by ALMA Band 3 observations

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution ALMA Band 3 observations to reveal asymmetric dust accumulation in the PDS 70 disk, providing insights into dust dynamics and planet formation processes.

Contribution

First high-resolution Band 3 observations of PDS 70 revealing detailed dust asymmetry and constraining the properties of the outer ring and embedded planets.

Findings

Asymmetric dust peak with 2.5 times higher intensity in the northwest.

Dust accumulation occurs both radially and azimuthally.

Outer ring eccentricity constrained to less than 0.04.

Abstract

The PDS 70 system, hosting two planets within its disk, is an ideal target for examining the effect of planets on dust accumulation, growth, and ongoing planet formation. Here, we present high-resolution ($0.''07 = 8 \ \mathrm{au}$) dust continuum observations of the PDS 70 disk in ALMA Band 3 (3.0 mm). While previous Band 7 observations showed a dust ring with slight asymmetry, our Band 3 observations reveal a more prominent asymmetric peak in the northwest direction, where the intensity is 2.5 times higher than in other directions and the spectral index is at the local minimum with $\alpha_{\mathrm{SED}} \sim 2.2$. This indicates that a substantial amount of dust is accumulated both radially and azimuthally in the peak. We also detect point-source emission around the stellar position in the Band 3 image, which is likely to be free-free emission. We constrain the eccentricity of the outer ring to be $e<0.04$ from the position of the central star and the outer ring. From the comparison with numerical simulations, we constrain the mass of PDS 70c to be less than 4.9 Jupiter masses if the gas turbulence strength $\alpha_{\mathrm{turb}} = 10^{-3}$. Then, we discuss the formation mechanism of the disk structures and further planet formation scenarios in the disk.