Shedding light on the origin of the broken misaligned circumtriple disk around GW Ori

TL;DR

This study investigates the origin of misaligned rings in GW Ori's circumtriple disk, finding that typical protoplanetary disk parameters do not support disk breaking caused by the triple star system, suggesting planets as an alternative explanation.

Contribution

The paper clarifies previous disagreements on disk breaking mechanisms and shows that planet presence, not stellar interactions, likely explains the observed disk features.

Findings

Disk does not break for typical protoplanetary aspect ratios

Previous studies are consistent when using the same parameters

Giant circumtriple planets may explain the observed gaps

Abstract

We revisit the origin of the observed misaligned rings in the circumtriple disk around GW Ori. Previous studies appeared to disagree on whether disk breaking is caused by the differential precession driven in the disk by the triple star system. In this letter, we show that the previous studies are in agreement with each other when using the same set of parameters. But for observationally motivated parameters of a typical protoplanetary disk, the disk is unlikely to break due to interactions with the triple star system. We run 3-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of a circumtriple disk around GW Ori with different disk aspect ratios. For a disk aspect ratio typical of protoplanetary disks, $H/r \gtrsim 0.05$, the disk does not break. An alternative scenario for the gap's origin consistent with the expected disk aspect ratio involves the presence of giant circumtriple planets orbiting GW Ori.