Mapping of shadows cast on a protoplanetary disk by a close binary system

Abstract

For a comprehensive understanding of planetary formation and evolution, we need to investigate the environment in which planets form: circumstellar disks. Here we present high-contrast imaging observations of V4046 Sagittarii, a 20-Myr-old close binary known to host a circumbinary disk. We have discovered the presence of rotating shadows in the disk, caused by mutual occultations of the central binary. Shadow-like features are often observed in disks\cite{garufi,marino15}, but those found thus far have not been due to eclipsing phenomena. We have used the phase difference due to light travel time to measure the flaring of the disk and the geometrical distance of the system. We calculate a distance that is in very good agreement with the value obtained from the Gaia mission's Data Release 2 (DR2), and flaring angles of $\alpha =6.2\pm 0.6$ deg and $\alpha =8.5\pm 1.0$ deg for the inner and outer disk rings, respectively. Our technique opens up a path to explore other binary systems, providing an independent estimate of distance and the flaring angle, a crucial parameter for disk modelling.

Authors' version of the article published in Nature Astronomy. Final version available at https://www.nature.com/natastron/

References in corpus (31)

• Angular Differential Imaging: a Powerful High-Contrast Imaging Technique
• The Gemini Planet Imager: First Light
• Disks ARound TTauri Stars with Sphere (DARTTS-S) I: Sphere / IRDIS Polarimetric Imaging of 8 prominent TTauri Disks
• Photometric characterization of exoplanets using angular and spectral differential imaging
• Structures in the protoplanetary disk of HD142527 seen in polarized scattered light
• Shadows and spirals in the protoplanetary disk HD 100453
• Impact of angular differential imaging on circumstellar disk images
• The Connection between Submillimeter Continuum Flux and Binary Separation in Young Binaries: Evidence of Interaction between Stars and Disks
• Performance of the VLT Planet Finder SPHERE II. Data analysis and Results for IFS in laboratory
• M-band Imaging of the HR 8799 Planetary System Using an Innovative LOCI-based Background Subtraction Technique
• Near-infrared scattered light properties of the HR4796A dust ring: a measured scattering phase function from 13.6deg to 166.6deg
• Astrometric and photometric accuracies in high contrast imaging: The SPHERE speckle calibration tool (SpeCal)
• Signatures of broken protoplanetary discs in scattered light and in sub-millimetre observations
• The Structure of the Evolved Circumbinary Disk around V4046 Sgr
• Chasing Shadows: Rotation of the Azimuthal Asymmetry in the TW Hya Disk
• Scattered light images of spiral arms in marginally gravitationally unstable discs with an embedded planet
• The close classical T Tauri binary V4046 Sgr: Complex magnetic fields & distributed mass accretion
• SPHERE IRDIS and IFS astrometric strategy and calibration
• The dispersal of protoplanetary disks around binary stars
• A Disk-based Dynamical Mass Estimate for the Young Binary V4046 Sgr
• Testing giant planet formation in the transitional disk of SAO 206462 using deep VLT/SPHERE imaging
• Shadows and cavities in protoplanetary disks: HD163296, HD141569A, and HD150193A in polarized light
• Connecting the shadows: probing inner disk geometries using shadows in transitional disks
• Scattered light mapping of protoplanetary disks
• Compact dust concentration in the MWC 758 protoplanetary disk
• The PDS 66 Circumstellar Disk as seen in Polarized Light with the Gemini Planet Imager
• Scattered Light from Dust in the Cavity of the V4046 Sgr Transition Disk
• Multiplicity of disc-bearing stars in Upper Scorpius and Upper Centaurus-Lupus
• Near-Infrared Polarimetry of the GG Tauri A Binary System
• Spirals in protoplanetary disks from photon travel time
• The SPHERE data center: a reference for high contrast imaging processing

Cited by in corpus (9)

• The widest H$\alpha$ survey of accreting protoplanets around nearby transition disks
• The SPHERE view of three interacting twin disc systems in polarised light
• New binaries from the SHINE survey
• High-resolution ALMA observations of V4046Sgr: a circumbinary disc with a thin ring
• The steady-state hydrodynamics of a long-lived disc: planetary system architecture and prospects of observing a circumplanetary disc shadow in V4046Sgr
• ALMA's view of the M-dwarf GSC 07396-00759's edge-on debris disc: AU Mic's coeval twin
• Characterization of very wide companion candidates to young stars with planets and disks
• The SPHERE view of multiple star formation
• CO Line Emission Surfaces and Vertical Structure in Mid-Inclination Protoplanetary Disks