Scattered light images of spiral arms in marginally gravitationally unstable discs with an embedded planet

Abstract

Scattered light images of transition discs in the near-infrared often show non-axisymmetric structures in the form of wide-open spiral arms in addition to their characteristic low-opacity inner gap region. We study self-gravitating discs and investigate the influence of gravitational instability on the shape and contrast of spiral arms induced by planet-disc interactions. Two-dimensional non-isothermal hydrodynamical simulations including viscous heating and a cooling prescription are combined with three-dimensional dust continuum radiative transfer models for direct comparison to observations. We find that the resulting contrast between the spirals and the surrounding disc in scattered light is by far higher for pressure scale height variations, i.e. thermal perturbations, than for pure surface density variations. Self-gravity effects suppress any vortex modes and tend to reduce the opening angle of planet-induced spirals, making them more tightly wound. If the disc is only marginally gravitationally stable with a Toomre parameter around unity, an embedded massive planet (planet-to-star mass ratio of $10^{-2}$) can trigger gravitational instability in the outer disc. The spirals created by this instability and the density waves launched by the planet can overlap resulting in large-scale, more open spiral arms in the outer disc. The contrast of these spirals is well above the detection limit of current telescopes.

Accepted for publication in MNRAS; 13 pages, 8 figures

References in corpus (20)

• Gas- and dust evolution in protoplanetary disks
• Gaps, Rings, and Non-Axisymmetric Structures in Protoplanetary Disks - From Simulations to ALMA Observations
• Asymmetric features in the protoplanetary disk MWC758
• Observational Signatures of Planets in Protoplanetary Disks I: Gaps Opened by Single and Multiple Young Planets in Disks
• A Parametric Modeling Approach to Measuring the Gas Masses of Circumstellar Disks
• On the corotation torque in a radiatively inefficient disk
• Large-Scale Asymmetries in the Transitional Disks of SAO 206462 and SR 21
• Structures in the protoplanetary disk of HD142527 seen in polarized scattered light
• Characterising the Gravitational Instability in Cooling Accretion Discs
• Protoplanetary disk masses from CO isotopologues line emission
• Small vs large dust grains in transitional disks: do different cavity sizes indicate a planet?
• Type I planetary migration in a self-gravitating disk
• Survival of the mm-cm size grain population observed in protoplanetary disks
• Discovery of H-alpha Emission from the Close Companion Inside the Gap of Transitional Disk HD142527
• Dust Trapping by Vortices in Transitional Disks: Evidence for Non-ideal MHD Effects in Protoplanetary Disks
• ALMA hints at the presence of two companions in the disk around HD 100546
• Effects of dust feedback on vortices in protoplanetary disks
• HD100546 Multi-Epoch Scattered-Light Observations
• Rossby wave instability does not require sharp resistivity gradients
• The architecture of the LkCa 15 transitional disk revealed by high-contrast imaging

Cited by in corpus (52)

• Spiral Density Waves in a Young Protoplanetary Disk
• Close-in planetesimal formation by pile-up of drifting pebbles
• Three radial gaps in the disk of TW Hydrae imaged with SPHERE
• Shadows and spirals in the protoplanetary disk HD 100453
• Shadows cast on the transition disk of HD 135344B. Multiwavelength VLT/SPHERE polarimetric differential imaging
• Circumbinary, not transitional: On the spiral arms, cavity, shadows, fast radial flows, streamers and horseshoe in the HD142527 disc
• The Eccentric Cavity, Triple Rings, Two-Armed Spirals, and Double Clumps of the MWC 758 Disk
• Can dead zones create structures like a transition disk?
• Radiation Hydrodynamical Turbulence In Protoplanetary Disks: Numerical Models and Observational Constraints
• Planet Formation in AB Aurigae: Imaging of the inner gaseous Spirals observed inside the Dust Cavity
• The SPHERE view of the planet-forming disk around HD100546
• Spiral Arms in Gravitationally Unstable Protoplanetary Disks as Imaged in Scattered Light
• Including Dust Coagulation in Hydrodynamic Models of Protoplanetary Disks: Dust Evolution in the Vicinity of a Jupiter-mass Planet
• An M Dwarf Companion and Its Induced Spiral Arms in the HD 100453 Protoplanetary Disk
• Spiral waves triggered by shadows in transition disks
• Spiral arms in the proto-planetary disc HD100453 detected with ALMA: evidence for binary-disc interaction and a vertical temperature gradient
• Gaps, rings, and non-axisymmetric structures in protoplanetary disks - Emission from large grains
• How Bright are Planet-Induced Spiral Arms in Scattered Light?
• Spiral Arms and a Massive Dust Disk with non-Keplerian Kinematics: Possible Evidence for Gravitational Instability in the Disk of Elias 2-27
• How Spirals and Gaps Driven by Companions in Protoplanetary Disks Appear in Scattered Light at Arbitrary Viewing Angles
• Signatures of Gravitational Instability in Resolved Images of Protostellar Disks
• Vortices and spirals in the HD135344B transition disk
• Testing giant planet formation in the transitional disk of SAO 206462 using deep VLT/SPHERE imaging
• Efficiency of thermal relaxation by radiative processes in protoplanetary discs: constraints on hydrodynamic turbulence
• Gap, shadows, spirals, streamers: SPHERE observations of binary-disk interactions in GG Tau A
• A Surface Density Perturbation in the TW Hydrae Disk at 95 au Traced by Molecular Emission
• Steady-state accretion in magnetized protoplanetary disks
• The effects of disk self-gravity and radiative cooling on the formation of gaps and spirals by young planets
• Investigating dust trapping in transition disks with millimeter-wave polarization
• Thermal Infrared Imaging of MWC 758 with the Large Binocular Telescope: Planetary Driven Spiral Arms?
• Spiral arms in thermally stratified protoplanetary discs
• New constraints on the disk characteristics and companion candidates around T Cha with VLT/SPHERE
• Stability and Occurrence Rate Constraints on the Planetary Sculpting Hypothesis for "Transitional" Disks
• The properties of the inner disk around HL Tau: Multi-wavelength modeling of the dust emission
• First scattered light detection of a nearly edge-on transition disk around the T Tauri star RY Lup
• Detection of Sharp Symmetric Features in the Circumbinary Disk Around AK Sco
• A "Rosetta Stone" for protoplanetary disks: The synergy of multi-wavelength observations
• The Effect of Protoplanetary Disk Cooling Times on the Formation of Gas Giant Planets by Gravitational Instability
• Resolved observations of transition disks
• Modeling the nonaxisymmetric structure in the HD 163296 disk with planet-disk interaction
• Signs of late infall and possible planet formation around DR Tau using VLT/SPHERE and LBTI/LMIRCam
• Particle Dynamics in 3D Self-gravitating Disks I: Spirals
• Optical dimming of RW Aur associated with an iron rich corona and exceptionally high absorbing column density
• Spirals and clumps in V960 Mon: signs of planet formation via gravitational instability around an FU Ori star?
• Classifying and modelling spiral structures in hydrodynamic simulations of astrophysical discs
• Mapping of shadows cast on a protoplanetary disk by a close binary system
• Direct detection of precursors of gas giants formed by gravitational instability with the Atacama Large Millimetre/sub-millimetre Array
• Dust dynamics in planet-driven spirals
• A model grid for the reflected light from transition disks
• Oxygen Isotopic Composition of an Enstatite Ribbon of Probable Cometary Origin
• Modeling the arc and ring structures in the HD 143006 disk
• A multiwavelength analysis of the spiral arms in the protoplanetary disk around WaOph 6