Hunting for planets in the HL Tau disk

Abstract

Recent ALMA images of HL Tau show gaps in the dusty disk that may be caused by planetary bodies. Given the young age of this system, if confirmed, this finding would imply very short timescales for planet formation, probably in a gravitationally unstable disk. To test this scenario, we searched for young planets by means of direct imaging in the L'-band using the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer mid-infrared camera. At the location of two prominent dips in the dust distribution at ~70AU (~0.5") from the central star we reach a contrast level of ~7.5mag. We did not detect any point source at the location of the rings. Using evolutionary models we derive upper limits of ~10-15MJup at <=0.5-1Ma for the possible planets. With these sensitivity limits we should have been able to detect companions sufficiently massive to open full gaps in the disk. The structures detected at mm-wavelengths could be gaps in the distributions of large grains on the disk midplane, caused by planets not massive enough to fully open gaps. Future ALMA observations of the molecular gas density profile and kinematics as well as higher contrast infrared observations may be able to provide a definitive answer.

Accepted for publication on ApJ Letters

References in corpus (8)

• First Results from High Angular Resolution ALMA Observations Toward the HL Tau Region
• On the Luminosity of Young Jupiters
• On planet formation in HL Tau
• On the gap-opening criterion of migrating planets in protoplanetary disks
• Large Binocular Telescope Adaptive Optics System: New achievements and perspectives in adaptive optics
• The LEECH Exoplanet Imaging Survey. Further constraints on the planet architecture of the HR 8799 system
• Enhanced Dust Emission in the HL Tau Disc: A Low-Mass Companion in Formation?
• High contrast imaging at the LBT: the LEECH exoplanet imaging survey

Cited by in corpus (33)

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• HL Tau disk in HCO+ (3-2) and (1-0) with ALMA: gas density, temperature, gap, and one-arm spiral
• The Ring Structure in the MWC 480 Disk Revealed by ALMA
• The Disc Miner I: A statistical framework to detect and quantify kinematical perturbations driven by young planets in discs
• The SEEDS High Contrast Imaging Survey of Exoplanets around Young Stellar Objects
• Rings and gaps in protoplanetary disks: planets or snowlines?
• Gas Gaps in the Protoplanetary Disk around the Young Protostar HL Tau
• Outer solar system possibly shaped by a stellar fly-by
• 13C17O suggests gravitational instability in the HL Tau disc
• High-contrast imaging of HD 163296 with the Keck/NIRC2 L'-band vortex coronograph
• Detectability of embedded protoplanets from hydrodynamical simulations
• Planetary System Formation in Protoplanetary Disk around HL Tauri
• The properties of the inner disk around HL Tau: Multi-wavelength modeling of the dust emission
• Long lived dust rings around HD169142
• The temporal requirements of directly observing self-gravitating spiral waves in protoplanetary discs with ALMA
• The Planetary Luminosity Problem: "Missing Planets" and the Observational Consequences of Episodic Accretion
• Planet migration, resonant locking and accretion streams in PDS70: Comparing models and data
• Observational Signatures of Planets in Protoplanetary Disks: Planet-Induced Line Broadening in Gaps
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• 1000 AU Exterior Arcs Connected to the Protoplanetary Disk around HL Tau
• The Effect of Protoplanetary Disk Cooling Times on the Formation of Gas Giant Planets by Gravitational Instability
• Resolved observations of transition disks
• The diverse lives of massive protoplanets in self-gravitating discs
• Very Low-Mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs in Upper Scorpius using Gaia DR1: Mass Function, Disks and Kinematics
• Constraining the masses of planets in protoplanetary discs from the presence or absence of vortices -- Comparison with ALMA observations
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• Size and density sorting of dust grains in SPH simulations of protoplanetary disc II: Fragmentation
• Time Evolution of 3D Disk Formation with Misaligned Magnetic Field and Rotation Axes
• Multi-frequency analysis of the ALMA and VLA high resolution continuum observations of the substructured disc around CI Tau. Preference for sub-mm-sized low-porosity amorphous carbon grains
• Applying a Particle-only Model to the HL Tau Disk