Binary-induced spiral arms inside the disc cavity of AB Aurigae

Abstract

In this work we demonstrate that the inner spiral structure observed in AB Aurigae can be created by a binary star orbiting inside the dust cavity. We find that a companion with a mass-ratio of 0.25, semi-major axis of 40 au, eccentricity of 0.5, and inclination of 90° produces gaseous spirals closely matching the ones observed in ${}^{12}$CO (2-1) line emission. Based on dust dynamics in circumbinary discs (Poblete, Cuello, and Cuadra 2019), we constrain the inclination of the binary with respect to the circumbinary disc to range between 60° and 90°. We predict that the stellar companion is located roughly 0.18 arcsec from the central star towards the east-southeast, above the plane of the disc. Should this companion be detected in the near future, our model indicates that it should be moving away from the primary star at a rate of 6 mas/yr on the plane of the sky. Since our companion is inclined, we also predict that the spiral structure will appear to change with time, and not simply co-rotate with the companion.

Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 11 Pages, 7 Figures

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• The mass and size of Herbig disks as seen by ALMA
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• Are the spiral arms in the MWC 758 protoplanetary disc driven by a companion inside the cavity?
• Circumbinary and circumstellar discs around the eccentric binary IRAS 04158+2805 -- a testbed for binary-disc interaction
• HD 143006: circumbinary planet or misaligned disc?
• Spirals, shadows & precession in HD 100453 -- I. The orbit of the binary
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• GW Ori: circumtriple rings and planets
• Spirals, shadows & precession in HD 100453 -- II. The hidden companion
• Constraining the Circumbinary Disk Tilt in the KH 15D system
• Dust Traffic Jams in Inclined Circumbinary Protoplanetary Discs I. Morphology and Formation Theory
• Exciting spiral arms in protoplanetary discs from flybys
• The protoplanetary disc around HD 169142: circumstellar or circumbinary?
• Observational Signatures of Circumbinary Discs I: Kinematics
• Spatially resolving polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Herbig Ae disks with VISIR-NEAR at the VLT
• V892 Tau: A tidally perturbed circumbinary disc in a triple stellar system
• LBT search for companions and sub-structures in the (pre)transitional disk of AB Aurigae
• Probing dust and grain growth in the optically thick circumbinary ring of V892 Tau
• On the cavity size in circumbinary discs