Probing the cold dust emission in the AB Aur disk: a dust trap in a decaying vortex?

Abstract

One serious challenge for planet formation is the rapid inward drift of pebble-sized dust particles in protoplanetary disks. Dust trapping at local maxima in the disk gas pressure has received much theoretical attention but still lacks observational support. The cold dust emission in the AB Aur disk forms an asymmetric ring at a radius of about 120 au, which is suggestive of dust trapping in a gas vortex. We present high spatial resolution (0".58x0".78 ~ 80x110 au) NOEMA observations of the 1.12 mm and 2.22 mm dust continuum emission from the AB Aur disk. Significant azimuthal variations of the flux ratio at both wavelengths indicate a size segregation of the large dust particles along the ring. Our continuum images also show that the intensity variations along the ring are smaller at 2.22 mm than at 1.12 mm, contrary to what dust trapping models with a gas vortex have predicted. Our two-fluid (gas+dust) hydrodynamical simulations demonstrate that this feature is well explained if the gas vortex has started to decay due to turbulent diffusion, and dust particles are thus losing the azimuthal trapping on different timescales depending on their size. The comparison between our observations and simulations allows us to constrain the size distribution and the total mass of solid particles in the ring, which we find to be of the order of 30 Earth masses, enough to form future rocky planets.

arXiv comment9 pags, 4 Figures

References in corpus (23)

• Gaia Data Release 1. Summary of the astrometric, photometric, and survey properties
• Particle Stirring in Turbulent Gas Disks: Including Orbital Oscillations
• Rossby Wave Instability of Keplerian Accretion Disks
• FARGO: a fast eulerian transport algorithm for differentially rotating disks
• Dust Filtration by Planet-Induced Gap Edges: Implications for Transitional Disks
• Gaps, Rings, and Non-Axisymmetric Structures in Protoplanetary Disks - From Simulations to ALMA Observations
• Direct Imaging of Fine Structures in Giant Planet Forming Regions of the Protoplanetary Disk around AB Aurigae
• Possible planet-forming regions on submillimetre images
• Planet formation bursts at the borders of the dead zone in 2D numerical simulations of circumstellar disks
• Type I planetary migration in a self-gravitating disk
• Sub-arcsec imaging of the AB Aur molecular disk and envelope at millimeter wavelengths: a non Keplerian disk
• The circumstellar disk of AB Aurigae: evidence for envelope accretion at late stages of star formation?
• Planet Formation in AB Aurigae: Imaging of the inner gaseous Spirals observed inside the Dust Cavity
• A compact concentration of large grains in the HD142527 protoplanetary dust trap
• Gas and dust hydrodynamical simulations of massive lopsided transition discs - II. Dust concentration
• Testing particle trapping in transition disks with ALMA
• How Spirals and Gaps Driven by Companions in Protoplanetary Disks Appear in Scattered Light at Arbitrary Viewing Angles
• A concentration of centimeter-sized grains in the Oph IRS 48 dust trap
• Gas and dust hydrodynamical simulations of massive lopsided transition discs - I. Gas distribution
• 3D Lagrangian turbulent diffusion of dust grains in a protoplanetary disk: method and first applications
• High spatial resolution imaging of SO and H2CO in AB Auriga: the first SO image in a transitional disk
• An Ionized Outflow from AB Aur, a Herbig Ae Star with a Transitional Disk
• Chemical composition of the circumstellar disk around AB Aurigae

Cited by in corpus (21)

• The Disk Substructures at High Angular Resolution Project (DSHARP): VII. The Planet-Disk Interactions Interpretation
• How much does turbulence change the pebble isolation mass for planet formation?
• Evidence for a massive dust-trapping vortex connected to spirals: a multi-wavelength analysis of the HD~135344B protoplanetary disk
• Dust unveils the formation of a mini-Neptune planet in a protoplanetary ring
• Dust traps in the protoplanetary disc MWC 758: two vortices produced by two giant planets?
• Signatures of an eccentric disc cavity: Dust and gas in IRS 48
• Transition disks: the observational revolution from SEDs to imaging
• AB Aur, a Rosetta stone for studies of planet formation (I): chemical study of a planet-forming disk
• Observational diagnostics of elongated planet-induced vortices with realistic planet formation timescales
• Planet-induced Vortices with Dust Coagulation in Protoplanetary Disks
• The TROY project: II. Multi-technique constraints on exotrojans in nine planetary systems
• Binary-induced spiral arms inside the disc cavity of AB Aurigae
• Dusty clumps in circumbinary discs
• AB Aur, a Rosetta stone for studies of planet formation (II): H${}_2$S detection and sulfur budget
• Intermittent planet migration and the formation of multiple dust rings and gaps in protoplanetary disks
• Observational signatures of eccentric Jupiters inside gas cavities in protoplanetary discs
• On the origin of the lump in circumbinary discs
• The protoplanetary disc around HD 169142: circumstellar or circumbinary?
• SO as shock tracer in protoplanetary disks: the AB Aurigae case
• Gas accretion within the dust cavity in AB Aur
• A Dust Trap in the Young Multiple System HD 34700